Learning through PBL with Emphasis on People, Process, and Product Across Courses

Micah Lande

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Problem- and Project-Based Learning
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43412
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/43412
Download Count: 105

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Paper Authors

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Micah Lande South Dakota School of Mines and Technology orcid.org/0000-0003-4964-5654

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Micah Lande, PhD is an Assistant Professor and E.R. Stensaas Chair for Engineering Education in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Dr. Lande directs the Holistic Engineering Lab & Observatory. He teaches human-centered engineering design, design thinking, and design innovation courses. Dr. Lande researches how technical and non-technical people learn and apply design thinking and making processes to their work. He is interested in the intersection of designerly epistemic identities and vocational pathways. Dr. Lande received his B.S. in Engineering (Product Design), M.A. in Education (Learning, Design and Technology) and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Design Education) from Stanford University.

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Abstract

This Theory-based and Evidence-based Practice paper extends the frameworks of PBL as project-based learning to describe a concept of “product”-based learning – learning experiences that focus on the deliberate design and making of tangible products with some engineering complexity as the learning goal of a course. Professional preparation of engineers, as with the law, and medicine, necessitates the application of knowledge through an applied rehearsal in authentic learning situations. The clinic of law or medicine is sometimes practiced as a capstone educational experience in fields of engineering.

Having engineering students work together on a project is becoming a prominent pedagogical approach in upper-level engineering undergraduate courses and graduate courses. This directly supports the professional practice and professional formation for many fields of engineering and addresses many ABET student learning outcomes. Additionally, greater availability of rapid prototyping and maker spaces can support these types of learning experiences, allowing student teams more access to holistically imagine, design, and more readily build their solutions. The more authentically these learning experiences can be curated and staged by instructors, the more meaningful and useful such courses can be for our students as future engineers.

A multiple case-study approach is used to apply and illustrate a “product”-based learning framework to multiple courses: a global design innovation course, a mechatronic (smart products) design course, a designing for the developing world design course, and a measure of comparison, a statics course.. We also develop and describe three dimensions for considering the pedagogical intent of such courses along axes of people-focused, product-focused, and process-focused.

By identifying and describing aspects relevant to the deployment of a product-based learning approach, crossed with considerations of developing the people, product, and process of the learning intent and concentration of appropriate activities can be helpful to better place classes across a learning spectrum as well, making better informed educational experiences. It can also be of use to be able to start to understand how contextual and pedagogical approaches can be applicable across the extent of a number of considerations such as balancing breadth and depth, abstract and concrete concepts, and engineering science and engineering design.

Citation
Format

Lande, M. (2023, June), Learning through PBL with Emphasis on People, Process, and Product Across Courses Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43412

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This Theory-based and Evidence-based Practice paper extends the frameworks of PBL as project-based learning to describe a concept of “product”-based learning – learning experiences that focus on the deliberate design and making of tangible products with some engineering complexity as the learning goal of a course. Professional preparation of engineers, as with the law, and medicine, necessitates the application of knowledge through an applied rehearsal in authentic learning situations. The clinic of law or medicine is sometimes practiced as a capstone educational experience in fields of engineering. 

Having engineering students work together on a project is becoming a prominent pedagogical approach in upper-level engineering undergraduate courses and graduate courses. This directly supports the professional practice and professional formation for many fields of engineering and addresses many ABET student learning outcomes. Additionally, greater availability of rapid prototyping and maker spaces can support these types of learning experiences, allowing student teams more access to holistically imagine, design, and more readily build their solutions. The more authentically these learning experiences can be curated and staged by instructors, the more meaningful and useful such courses can be for our students as future engineers.

A multiple case-study approach is used to apply and illustrate a “product”-based learning framework to multiple courses: a global design innovation course, a mechatronic (smart products) design course, a designing for the developing world design course, and a measure of comparison, a statics course.. We also develop and describe three dimensions for considering the pedagogical intent of such courses along axes of people-focused, product-focused, and process-focused.

By identifying and describing aspects relevant to the deployment of a product-based learning approach, crossed with considerations of developing the people, product, and process of the learning intent and concentration of appropriate activities can be helpful to better place classes across a learning spectrum as well, making better informed educational experiences. It can also be of use to be able to start to understand how contextual and pedagogical approaches can be applicable across the extent of a number of considerations such as balancing breadth and depth, abstract and concrete concepts, and engineering science and engineering design.


AU  - Micah Lande
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Learning through PBL with Emphasis on People, Process, and Product Across Courses
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/43412
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--43412
ER  -