Intervening to improve the dissertation of final year engineering research projects
Paper
Paper/Presentation Title | Intervening to improve the dissertation of final year engineering research projects |
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Presentation Type | Paper |
Authors | Goh, Steven (Author) and Ku, Harry (Author) |
Editors | Kellogg, Stuart and Karlin, Jennifer |
Journal or Proceedings Title | Proceedings of the 41st ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 2011) |
ERA Conference ID | 42827 |
Number of Pages | 6 |
Year | 2011 |
Place of Publication | Piscataway, NJ, United States |
ISBN | 9781612844695 |
Web Address (URL) of Paper | http://fie-conference.org/fie2011/ |
Conference/Event | 41st ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 2011): Celebrating 41 Years of Monumental Innovations from around the World |
FIE Frontiers in Education | |
Event Details | FIE Frontiers in Education Rank A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A |
Event Details | 41st ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 2011): Celebrating 41 Years of Monumental Innovations from around the World Parent ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference Event Date 12 to end of 15 Oct 2011 Event Location Rapid City, United States |
Abstract | This paper presents preliminary results of an investigative study into the final-year engineering research project. Final year students completing engineering research projects were surveyed pre- and post-intervention regarding their perception and ability to undertake a literature review in their research project. The pre-intervention survey provided an insight into the students’ initial disorientation in starting the projects but also acted as an awareness mechanism for the student participants to consolidate or improve their literature review skills. A series of intervention workshops were devised based on the pre-intervention survey. A post-intervention survey was then conducted along with a focus group. The paper discusses the results of these two surveys and then compares them with the ‘actual’ literature review skills demonstrated in progress reports (contain the literature review section). From the pre and post intervention surveys, it can be seen that the intervention workshops were successful in increasing awareness and understanding of the literature reviews. However, the intervention was regarded as not so successful if the knowledge of literature reviews was based on the progress report artifacts. This is somewhat a contradiction. The literature review skills demonstrated in their final dissertations were compared with those in their progress reports. It was evidenced that their literature review skills have improved significantly in their final dissertations but were not displayed in the progress report artifacts submitted earlier in the project. |
Keywords | literature review, capstone project, final year project, undergraduate research. |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 390113. Science, technology and engineering curriculum and pedagogy |
Public Notes | © 2011 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. |
Byline Affiliations | Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q1158/intervening-to-improve-the-dissertation-of-final-year-engineering-research-projects
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