Applying Design Based Research to New Work-Integrated PBL Model (The Iron Range Engineering Bell Program)

A new project-based model of engineering education is being developed to deliver an upper-division (final two years of four-year bachelor degree) experience. The experience is centred on students working directly in industry through engineering apprentice (cooperative education/internship) employment. Students will work in industry, completing projects, for the last two years of their education while being supported in their technical and professional development by professors, facilitators, and their peers through use of digital communication. This new model focuses on learning being more imbedded in professional practice, in contrast to the more traditional model of engineering, where the learning about the profession is done in the abstract of a classroom. The learning experience is designed to open doors for greater access to engineering education. Developed for community college graduates (entering students who have completed first two years of engineering bachelor requirement) in the United States, the program will serve a more ethnically and gender diverse student body. The innovative new model focuses on the development of transversal competences, a new set of teacher roles in PBL, industry-university collaboration, curricular design, continuous evaluation of practice, use of e-learning, and the students' learning processes. The program pilot starts July 2019. This paper will describe the new model, the design-based research method being used, report on the steps completed to date, introduce new sets of data on the new model, analyse the data, evaluate its impact, and result in the next iteration of design improvement. It will primarily focus on program development and the research approach for evaluation of the education model.