What is it about?
This paper provides an initial feedback from an intensive, multidisciplinary, and collaborative project implemented in France in higher engineering education through a case study on electric go-kart conception. This kind of project was proposed during 2 successive academic years in collaboration with an industrial partner who is currently a relevant expert in the field. The project consisted in designing, developing, and validating the operation of several electric go-karts within 56 hours of teaching only. Several groups of approximately 10 4th-year university students were involved in this new project-based learning (PBL) approach. This article points out knowledge and skills that the learners had to acquire at the end of the project, and the methods of assessment. In particular, an innovative oral communication based on a theatrical oral session was tested. The various steps in the project development, management, and the interactions with the students, the teachers and the industrial partner are highlighted. Qualitative and quantitative data were extracted from the transcript of grades and the satisfaction surveys
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Why is it important?
All results described in this paper demonstrate that this new PBL approach both is relevant, and overwhelmingly positive, because the students were particularly encouraged to become active throughout the project. Moreover, they developed co-operative and collaborative competencies, and critical thinking skills. For the teachers, their role was that of a facilitator rather than a teacher, especially by guiding the discussions and raising many questions. Nevertheless, the worse part of the project consisted in developing efficient methods and tools both to organize the project, and evaluate the students’ knowledge and skills. Finally, the theatrical oral session was considered as an original way to explain the main outcomes at the end of the project
Perspectives
I particularly appreciated this work and the osmosis generated between the different actors of the project: students, teachers and professionals. The communication actions on this subject were very numerous. This new pedagogical approach was widely recognized by the local and regional press. All these communication actions are essential for the graduate school of engineering, because they generate better readability of the engineering curricula. They also enable to share information with a large audience, especially in connection with training institutions (middle and high schools, University Institutes of Technology, and graduate schools of engineering) or EV enthusiasts
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SEBASTIEN JACQUES
Universite Francois-Rabelais de Tours
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Pedagogical Intensive Collaborative Electric Go-Kart Project, International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy (iJEP), November 2017, International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE),
DOI: 10.3991/ijep.v7i4.7408.
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