IMPLEMENTING CDIO IN ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING MODULES: PRACTICAL CHALLENGES AND HOW TO MEET THEM

This paper presents the work of the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (SEEE) faculty at Singapore Polytechnic who have been reframing and redesigning their engineering curriculum to make the student learning experience more interesting and aligned to specific CDIO standards for reforming engineering education.

The CDIO framework was implemented in the school in 2008 and required a major review of existing curriculum to identify gaps between existing practices and those suggested by the guiding principles of CDIO. One major outcomes of the review was the creation and introduction of a new project-based module, „Introduction to Engineering‟, which is aligned with the existing core modules, „Principles of Electrical & Electronic Engineering‟ and „Digital Electronics‟. The objective was to provide a more integrated learning experience in which key theoretical concepts and principles, in the two core modules, are integrated and simultaneously applied and immediately in the new module. In the process of this curriculum re-design, 3 key CDIO skills (Personal Skills & Attitudes, Teamwork & Communication) have been systematically integrated into the module program.

In the paper, we present our key findings and significant learning from designing and implementing these first-year introductory courses in our engineering programs at the SEEE. We will show how we have customized CDIO Standards to a polytechnic context and developed integrated, active and experiential learning experiences to help students achieve both a deeper understanding of technical fundamentals and the skills and attitudes required in the wider context of real world engineering. 

The specific changes relating to curriculum development (e.g. learning outcomes, teaching and assessment) will be identified as well as the challenges faced by staff in attempting to make this curriculum innovation effective and achievable within the inevitable constraints that change typically creates. 

Finally, we will present the summarized feedback from students and staffs, obtained through interview, students‟ blog and final review, and offer our present frame for future improvement and subsequent CDIO curriculum development.