Campus integrated project-based learning course in civil and environmental engineering

Abstract

A hybrid project and service based learning course has been introduced in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Illinois. The primary objectives of the course are to develop engineering problem solving, professional, and business skills earlier in our CEE undergraduate curriculum by having student teams identify open-ended, ill-defined campus/community problems or opportunities, develop a feasible project scope, and propose sustainable solutions. The unique features of our course include (1) a blend of service and project learning with faculty instructors partnering with the campus engineering staff to assist with team project mentoring, campus data collection, local field trips, and case studies, (2) formal course assessments through pre and post-class survey and student focus group interviews, and (3) weekly instructor meetings that consist of faculty, teaching assistants, department administrators and engineering staff updating the course during the semester and planning major changes for the next course offering. In this paper, we describe the course organization and its curricular evolution along with evaluation data from student surveys and focus groups as well as the impact of routine instructor community of practice meetings.