IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i2p480-d306544.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Case Study to Analyze the Impact of Multi-Course Project-Based Learning Approach on Education for Sustainable Development

Author

Listed:
  • Amith Khandakar

    (Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar)

  • Muhammad Enamul Hoque Chowdhury

    (Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar)

  • Antonio Jr. San Pedro Gonzales

    (Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar)

  • Farid Touati

    (Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar)

  • Nasser Al Emadi

    (Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar)

  • Mohamed Arselene Ayari

    (Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar)

Abstract

This work presents a multi-course project-based learning (MPL) approach implemented using two electrical engineering (EE) interdisciplinary undergraduate courses at Qatar University. Implementing an MPL approach helps in the development of critical thinking and collaborative decision-making skills. The attainment of these skills is also the outcome of education for sustainable development (ESD); the skills help students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. The participating students’ worked on a design project, which was used to assess the fulfillment of a set of student learning outcomes (SLOs), focusing on engineering soft skills and project management skills. The skills include the ability to communicate effectively, to work collaboratively in a team, to think both critically and creatively, and to manage projects efficiently with realistic constraints and standards. The challenges of implementing the MPL method are the organization of pedagogical activities that are planned for each of the courses involved, the coordination of the materials delivered by each course, and the supervision of around 90 students per year performing the MPL method. The experience of MPL deployment in the EE program was rated using student surveys. It was assumed that the MPL approach would be beneficial to the students based on the instructors’ and students’ feedback from the same courses in previous years. This was verified using chi-square statistics of the survey results. The implementation of the MPL also helped in increasing the average marks scored by the students in the design project. Some interesting feedback, statistical analyses, and improvement actions are reported for future upgrades. This work also contributes to the MPL pragmatic body of knowledge by exploring a successful initiative and its outcomes, which can help in attaining the skills needed for ESD.

Suggested Citation

  • Amith Khandakar & Muhammad Enamul Hoque Chowdhury & Antonio Jr. San Pedro Gonzales & Farid Touati & Nasser Al Emadi & Mohamed Arselene Ayari, 2020. "Case Study to Analyze the Impact of Multi-Course Project-Based Learning Approach on Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:480-:d:306544
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/480/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/480/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rodrigo Lozano & Maria Barreiro-Gen & Francisco J. Lozano & Kaisu Sammalisto, 2019. "Teaching Sustainability in European Higher Education Institutions: Assessing the Connections between Competences and Pedagogical Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Taina Ruuskanen & Hanna Vehkamäki & Laura Riuttanen & Antti Lauri, 2018. "An Exploratory Study of the Learning of Transferable Skills in a Research-Oriented Intensive Course in Atmospheric Sciences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    3. Michaela Maurer & Franz Xaver Bogner, 2019. "How freshmen perceive Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Taha Farid & Sara Ali & Muhammad Sajid & Khalid Akhtar, 2021. "Sustainability of Project-Based Learning by Incorporating Transdisciplinary Design in Fabrication of Hydraulic Robot Arm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Seyoung Kim & Naya Choi, 2020. "The Relationships between Children’s Ego Function and Fear of Negative Evaluation Affecting Academic Failure Tolerance in Early School Age: Analysis by Grade Level Considering Sustainability of Academ," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-12, March.
    3. Mirjam Braßler & Martin Schultze, 2021. "Students’ Innovation in Education for Sustainable Development—A Longitudinal Study on Interdisciplinary vs. Monodisciplinary Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-17, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rodrigo Domínguez-González & Laura Delgado-Martín, 2022. "Arousing Early Strategic Thinking about SDGs with Real Mathematics Problems," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, April.
    2. Amith Khandakar & Muhammad E. H. Chowdhury & Md. Saifuddin Khalid & Nizar Zorba, 2022. "Case Study of Multi-Course Project-Based Learning and Online Assessment in Electrical Engineering Courses during COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Carolina Feliciana Machado & João Paulo Davim, 2022. "Higher Education for Sustainability: A Bibliometric Approach—What, Where and Who Is Doing Research in This Subject?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, April.
    4. Sung-Shun Weng & Yang Liu & Juan Dai & Yen-Ching Chuang, 2020. "A Novel Improvement Strategy of Competency for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) of University Teachers Based on Data Mining," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Elżbieta Izabela Szczepankiewicz & Jan Fazlagić & Windham Loopesko, 2021. "A Conceptual Model for Developing Climate Education in Sustainability Management Education System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-26, January.
    6. Flavio Pinheiro Martins & Luciana Oranges Cezarino & Lara Bartocci Liboni & Amilton Barbosa Botelho Junior & Trevor Hunter, 2022. "Interdisciplinarity-Based Sustainability Framework for Management Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, September.
    7. Agustín Zaballos & Alan Briones & Alba Massa & Pol Centelles & Víctor Caballero, 2020. "A Smart Campus’ Digital Twin for Sustainable Comfort Monitoring," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-33, November.
    8. Michaela Maurer & Franz Xaver Bogner, 2020. "First steps towards sustainability? University freshmen perceptions on nature versus environment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Bankole Osita Awuzie & Amal Abuzeinab, 2019. "Modelling Organisational Factors Influencing Sustainable Development Implementation Performance in Higher Education Institutions: An Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM) Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-18, August.
    10. Yi-Chen Lai & Li-Hsun Peng, 2019. "Effective Teaching and Activities of Excellent Teachers for the Sustainable Development of Higher Design Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, December.
    11. Alba Manresa & Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent & Úrsula Faura-Martínez & Juan-Vicente Llinares-Ciscar, 2021. "What Do Freshmen Know about Sustainability? Analysing the Skill Gap among University Business Administration Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    12. Jan Činčera & Grzegorz Mikusiński & Bohuslav Binka & Luis Calafate & Cristina Calheiros & Alexandra Cardoso & Marcus Hedblom & Michael Jones & Alex Koutsouris & Clara Vasconcelos & Katarzyna Iwińska, 2019. "Managing Diversity: The Challenges of Inter-University Cooperation in Sustainability Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-16, October.
    13. Brian Pompeii & Yi-Wen Chiu & Dawn Neill & David Braun & Gregg Fiegel & Rebekah Oulton & Joseph Ragsdale & Kylee Singh, 2019. "Identifying and Overcoming Barriers to Integrating Sustainability across the Curriculum at a Teaching-Oriented University," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, May.
    14. Primiano Di Nauta & Enrica Iannuzzi & Michele Milone & Claudio Nigro, 2020. "The Impact of the Sustainability Principles on the Strategic Planning and Reporting of Universities. An Exploratory Study on a Qualified Italian Sample," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    15. Vasiliki Kioupi & Nikolaos Voulvoulis, 2019. "Education for Sustainable Development: A Systemic Framework for Connecting the SDGs to Educational Outcomes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-18, November.
    16. Zhicheng Zeng & Wenjun Zhong & Shumaila Naz, 2023. "Can Environmental Knowledge and Risk Perception Make a Difference? The Role of Environmental Concern and Pro-Environmental Behavior in Fostering Sustainable Consumption Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-23, March.
    17. Rodrigo Lozano & Maria Barreiro‐Gen & Janna Pietikäinen & Carmen Gago‐Cortes & Claudio Favi & Maria Teresa Jimenez Munguia & Ferenc Monus & João Simão & Javier Benayas & Cheryl Desha & Sevket Bostanci, 2022. "Adopting sustainability competence‐based education in academic disciplines: Insights from 13 higher education institutions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 620-635, August.
    18. Marta Cholewa-Wiktor, 2021. "The Concept of Sustainable Development in the Curriculum of the Medical Universities in Poland," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 2), pages 72-86.
    19. Sandra Caeiro & Leyla Angélica Sandoval Hamón & Rute Martins & Cecilia Elizabeth Bayas Aldaz, 2020. "Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions—A Critical Reflection," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
    20. Odysseas Christou & Dimitra B. Manou & Stefano Armenia & Eduardo Franco & Anastasia Blouchoutzi & Jason Papathanasiou, 2024. "Fostering a Whole-Institution Approach to Sustainability through Systems Thinking: An Analysis of the State-of-the-Art in Sustainability Integration in Higher Education Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-22, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:480-:d:306544. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.