Problem Based Learning in Engineering Design

Design has traditionally been an important part of an engineer’s training. The initial Engineering Design course in second year undergraduate engineering degree play an integral part in combining the learned knowledge and promote problem solving proficiency. Engineers Australia (Formerly the Institution of Engineers Australia) outlines, soft skills and social proficiencies as a key competency in the accreditation framework. Furthermore the Australian engineering competency standards gives design a significant weight in its evaluation criteria, requiring engineering curriculum to have significant design course experience (2004). Thus engineering design pedagogy including assessment and evaluation strategies are of an increased emphasis for educators. This paper describes the application of problem based learning in an undergraduate preliminary engineering design course with an emphasis on student learning.