EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTIVE ALIGNMENT IMPLEMENTATION ON CHEMICAL ENGINEERING KINETICS COURSE

Most engineering courses at the undergraduate level are delivered by using a lecture-based teaching approach. In the past, this technique was successful because the students had motivation and passion for learning for improving themselves, but the goal of the study at the university was changed nowadays. In Thailand, some students in the university do not have goals or motivation to improve themselves, so the techniques and the course design need to change to meet the student behaviour. The constructive alignment was chosen to design the course of chemical engineering kinetics and reactor design for third-year students at the department of chemical and materials engineering, faculty of engineering, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi. There are three parts of the course which need to align together. They are intended learning outcomes (ILOs), teaching and learning activity (T&L), and assessment method (ASM). This action research has studied the alignment of ILOs, T&L, and ASM to increase the engineering skills for chemical engineering students. The intended learning outcomes were the first one, which needs to design according to the course description and the CDIO skills, for example, teamwork, critical thinking, and communication. Then, the assessment methods were selected to measure student skills such as quizzes, assignments, examinations, and rubric for both formative and summative assessments. The last one is teaching and learning activities. T&L needs to design align with ILOs and ASM because they are the indicator of the success of constructive alignment. As mentioned earlier, only lecture techniques are not suitable for present students but still necessary, so we need to add some active learning techniques to combine with short lecture approximately 15 minutes. For example, jigsaw classroom, think pair share, group discussion, etc. The data were collected during the class and after the class. It was found that the behaviour of the students changed with the teaching and learning activities that we used. The students participated actively in the class. Most students said they were excited when the teacher chose their names in a completely random way and asked a question during the lecture and help them always awake. In the past, the number of students who can pass this course was quite low, but when we designed the course with constructive alignment, it can help the teacher to cut off some part that is not important and focus on the important part so the students can understand more about the course.