Engineering Students Learn ABET Professional Skills: A Comparative Study of Project-Based-Learning (PBL) versus Traditional Students

This paper presents preliminary findings of a study that investigated the learning experiences of students who enrolled in two programs: a project -based learning (PBL) and a traditional engineering curriculum. The PBL students do not take classes; 100 percent of their learning is done in the context of industry projects to develop graduates with integrated technical and professional knowledge and competencies. The traditional curriculum involves classroom instruction, homework, and assessments. Using a qualitative research approach, the current study focused on students that completed two years of a n ew PBL program in a Midwest university, and compared their learning experiences to students that are graduating from a traditional program at a different university. Initial results suggest positive outcomes are more pronounced for students associated with PBL as compared with students in traditional engine ering curriculum, with regard to both Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) professional skills, outcomes, and future employment. For example, one immediate highlight of the PBL program is that a majority of PBL students ranked their program (i.e. instruct ors and project format) positively, and were more “encouraged” to work in teams to complete tasks for real clients in industry. The results of this study will provide insights into PBL as a mode l of learning engineering in the context of design and practice to support engineering programs aiming to establish project-based learning as well as academia in general.