This paper presents the effects of Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) implementation on student learning for the Diploma in Chemical Engineering (DCHE) course at Singapore Polytechnic (SP).
It firstly provides an overview of why, when and how the CDIO Engineering Education Framework was implemented in DCHE. After six years of implementing the various CDIO standards through a range of curriculum initiatives, we felt it timely to a higher level of evaluatiom, beyond student reaction to these activities. This was to meet Standard 12 more comprehensively to ascertain the learning and behavioural impact of CDIO implementation on DCHE students to judge its longer term educational value.
Secondly, the key research questions and data analysis techniques are presented. The research questions formed the basis of the evaluation programme, focusing on student performance, graduate performance and course performance. as illustrated in Table 1.
Table 1: Examples of research questions Evaluation aspect - Student performance - Research question: Are overall mean marks of DCHE modules after CDIO implementation in DCHE significantly different from before CDIO implementation?
Evaluation aspect - Graduate performance - Research question: Is employment rate of graduates after CDIO implementation in DCHE significantly different from before CDIO implementation?
Evaluation aspect - Course performance - Research question: Is DCHE course satisfaction scores after CDIO implementation in DCHE significantly different from before CDIO implementation? Are there correlations between student performance, graduate performance and course performance?
A variety of data analysis techniques were employed, including a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient.
Thirdly, the evaluation results are discussed and key areas relating to the research questions are highlighted. Of particular interest, the data analyses show that the effects of CDIO implementation in the aspect of DCHE student performance are not consistent amongst different DCHE modules. It is inferred that a possible reason for this inconsistency can be due to the disparity in faculty’s CDIO proficiency.
Finally,limitations present in the current evaluation study are identified, as well as recommendations for possible future evaluation activites.
NOTE: Singapore Polytechnic uses the word "courses" to describe its education "programs". A "course" in the Diploma in Chemical Engineering consists of many subjects that are termed "modules"; which in the universities contexts are often called “courses”.
Proceedings of the 10th International CDIO Conference, Barcelona, Spain, June 15-19 2014