AN EXPERT-FOLLOWER APPROACH TO ENHANCE GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES IN LABORATORY COURSES

An “expert-follower” approach to conduct laboratory courses is outlined in this article. The main objective of the proposed procedure is to enhance graduate attributes. Two important attributes namely, investigation and team work are focused. In this setting, one team becomes the designated expert team for an experiment. Based on the range of operating conditions of equipment, the expert team will decide different sets of experimental conditions. The expert team will first run the experiment and the follower teams will run in the following weeks, each at a different set of conditions. The follower teams will be briefed by the expert team prior to and during the experiment. The expert team will gather data from the follower teams every week. Each team will be designated expert for one experiment while follower for the others. The expert team will have a large set of data to investigate the characteristics of the corresponding equipment. They will have to analyze data, identify any abnormality and probable causes, and draw conclusions. The success of each team will be mutually dependent and this will be the key for enhancing teamwork skills. This approach will be implemented in a laboratory component of a Term 5 course in the Process Engineering program at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Data on the learning outcomes in a traditional setting are being collected in the current year. The new approach will be implemented during Winter 2016 and data on learning outcomes will be collected to analyze the effectiveness of the approach.

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