The Development of a Problem-Based Learning and Teaching Strategy in an Aviation-Related Project at the Australian Defence Force Academy

Compared to the seven other Australian Universities that offer an Aviation degree, the aviation-related project is a major component of the Bachelor of Technology (Aviation) degree program curriculum at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy. This paper describes the aviation-related project as a case study in the strategy of problem-based learning and teaching. Since the inception of the degree the project has evolved and expanded. This process has placed greater expectations on the learning outcomes of students which some students have had difficulty in fulfilling. Coursework has been introduced to ameliorate some of the perceived shortcomings of the aviation-related problem-based learning project. This paper describes an evaluation of the aviation project based on student learning and student self-assessment.