The Multimedia & Infocomm Technology (MIT) diploma is a three year program offered by the School of Engineering in Nanyang Polytechnic. It has an annual cohort size of about 200 students. In the first year curriculum of the diploma, an introductory course called "Infocomm Systems" is introduced to highlight key technological pillars of the Infocomm industry, i.e. software development, networking and digital media, which support development and delivery of Infocomm systems and services. This course is modelled after the "Introduction to Engineering" course as described in CDIO Standard 4 [1]. It also draws experiences and learning lessons from similar implementation by other educational institutes [2] [3] [4] [5].
The "Infocomm Systems" course aims to build up interest and excitement in Infocomm technologies by providing active learning opportunities for students through problem solving and design-build-test projects. Students’ communication skills are also inherently built-up via an integrated project in the course [1]. The integrated project also requires students to relate, draw and apply knowledge and skills learnt in other courses conducted in the same semester.
In this paper, we will explain the background to this endeavour, the curriculum revision supporting it, the criteria, objectives and implementation of the integrated project. Finally, feedback from students and lecturers as well as our learning experiences will also be shared.
Proceedings of the 9th International CDIO Conference, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 9 – 13, 2013.