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A new teaching pedagogy to enhance societal needs, sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurial skills

International Conference on Engineering Education for Sustainable Development (7th : 2015 : Vancouver, B.C.)

Design is a common element in most Mechanical and Industrial Engineering programs globally. In the design course, various aspects of product embodiment, manufacturing processes and material selection are discussed. To bring further flavour to the design course in Qatar University element such as life cycle, innovation and entrepreneurship with active learning was introduced. The students were divided in few groups. Each group had to address a societal need within or external to Qatar. The solutions address the issues of sustainability. The students were given sessions about tools for idea generation and creativity techniques. Once the problem had been identified, these groups were advised and coached to prepare a comprehensive business plan that include selection of materials and manufacturing processes, life cycle, organizational structure, how they will market their product, market segmentation and penetration, break even analysis and economic analysis as well as environmental impact. From the course assessment and student course outcomes surveys, it was found that the interest and learning curve for students increased drastically for this course. Besides improving the interest and learning curve, the approach had indirectly exposed the student to project management skills, economic analysis – balance sheet and cash flow and breakeven point analysis, lifelong learning, communication and teamwork. In whole, the approach was an interesting and led to further enhance the student learning process by using different learning styles through varied and innovative teaching techniques.

Text

2015-06-09

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/53823

Nesbit, S. & Froese, T. M. (Eds.) (2015). Proceedings of EESD15: The 7th Conference on Engineering Education for Sustainable Development, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. June 9-12.

Faculty; Other

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