Development of Psychomotor Skill and Programme Outcome Attainment of Civil Engineering Students in Malaysia

Abstract

A substantial amount of practice is required throughout an engineering programme to develop the psychomotor skill for a practice-oriented industry and fulfil the hands-on component of the accreditation requirements. This study aims to analyse the engineering students‟ psychomotor skill development based on psychomotor programme outcome (PO) attainment during their course of study and to determine the important suggestions on improvement in the learning and teaching processes in the programme based on the respondents‟ feedback. A quantitative research design was adopted using a questionnaire survey to record the students‟ opinions on skill development and PO attainment, classified under the psychomotor domain in an undergraduate civil engineering programme in Malaysia. Out of the 327 chosen students, who consisted of final year students enrolling in open ended laboratory (OEL) and final year project (FYP) courses, approximately 32% of them responded to the survey. It was agreed by most of the students that psychomotor skill assisted the development of their self-confidence and proficiency, which consisted of complex skill sets and movement. The students also agreed that they have attained the PO through usage of laboratory apparatus and data collection. As they agreed that their psychomotor PO attainment was influenced by the condition of the equipment in the laboratories, they proposed that the programme should increase the number of equipment and enhance the laboratory facilities by implementing new and up-to-date technologies relevant to the programme. It was shown from a direct PO measurement from the myCOPO system that the students attained the psychomotor skill required by the programme. This study contributes to the improvement in the engineering curriculum development and assists the Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) in fulfilling the requirements by the Board of Engineers Malaysia, which are related to psychomotor skill development. As it captures an important aspect of psychomotor skill acquired by civil engineering students, it would be a positive approach for IHL to apply a more practice-based learning curriculum to prepare them for future careers in design consultant office, contractor site operations, and other construction-related work environment.