Engineering students’ perspective on their learning experience in Higher Education: Findings from a pilot study

Abstract

Understanding the ways in which students at higher education live and assess their learning experiences is a key issue in improving the education and development opportunities provided to them, especially in times of change and challenge. This work draws upon data taken from broader and ongoing research project aimed to investigating engineering students’ perspectives on teaching and learning in higher education. Data were colleted through questionnaires administrated at the end of the semester in module ‘Biomechanics’ (45 hours per semester). The questionnaire included the following dimensions: motivation for entering an engineering degree, teaching methods, assessment procedures, teacher’s performance, classroom climate, content, timetable, resources and equipment. Preliminary findings suggest that, by and large, students enjoyed both the diversity of the learning activities and content of the module. They also highlighted the key importance of the teacher/student relationship. However, issues such as intrinsic motivation, student participation in defining assessment procedures and the available resources (including time) and equipment emerged in explaining both similarities and differences in students’ responses. These will be discussed further in the paper.