The twenty-first century workers need to be able to constantly keep abreast with changing technology and possess the desired behavioural competencies to have a long, rewarding career. To help the students of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (SEEE) of Singapore Polytechnic, to grow, serve and thrive in the new norm in this VUCA world, an enhanced engineering education model is needed, which incorporates lifelong learning, addressing the demands of deep skills, versatility, entrepreneurial vigour and a global mindset for the betterment of Singapore. This paper shares the comprehensive approach taken to refine the current holistic education model that incorporates the polytechnic’s Self-Directed model, into its CDIO-based curriculum for the diploma programmes, and extending into the co-curricular activities (CCAs) offered by the School and the polytechnic. Cognizant of the challenges of the SDL initiative, the different workgroups within the School, articulate how their respective work areas contribute towards helping students to become self-directed learners. This helps to surface academic staff’s understanding of the notion of self-directed learners, how their work areas are already contributing, and where these actions can be further improved, to achieve the common goal. With this in place, the school hopes to gauge whether the whole school approach has contributed towards students’ progress in becoming self-directed learners. For this purpose, the School plans for what is termed provisionally, the Self-directed learning (SDL) index, to add to the commonly used Grade Point Average (GPA). This requires that students provide their self-assessment on various aspects of self-directed learning. Although it is a three-year project, this paper aims to share the work progress, learning and findings at the end of its first year. Learning analytics will be used to provide feedback on the progress of the students at appropriate stages and the end of their three-year-long study.
