2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Many researchers define global project-based learnings (gPBLs) to be effective for engineering education from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. However, this preliminary research focused on the systematic issues that all gPBLs may potentially have. Below are the major issues observed in our previous interdisciplinary robotics workshop:
1) Lack of previous subject knowledge, especially in the fields of robotics and computer programming.
2) English language skills for Japanese participants.
3) Lacking understanding of different cultures for both Japanese and Malaysian students.
Factoring this in, several innovations have been applied to raise the level of their fundamental knowledge and communication skills as well as to reduce their confusion and uneasiness towards working with those of other cultural backgrounds. Looking at the first year of the workshop after these changes were introduced, students total global competence scores obtained from the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale-Short form (MGUDS-S) showed an increase from 67.15 in the pre-survey to 68.38 in the post-survey (on a total scale of 90.00). Among the three MGUDS-S subscales, the biggest increase was for ‘Diversity of Contact’, from 25.23 to 28.00, with an observable increase also occurring in scores for 'Relativistic Appreciation', from 26.46 to 28.00 (on a scale of 30.00). However, the post-survey scores for 'Comfort with Difference' were lower than that of pre-survey – this was a common tendency observed in our institutional data analysis on the survey data from all AY2021 online gPBLs at our university.

This robotics workshop is a continued interdisciplinary project-based learning, run in collaboration with University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. It plays an important role with respect to equity and opportunity in engineering education at our institution. Within the context of this robotics workshop, an 'Interdisciplinary program' is defined as an equitable learning experience for which participation is not limited to the field of robotics. It offers content that stimulates intellectual interest in both the sciences and the humanities. It is also interdisciplinary and equitable in terms of its expected outcomes of promoting understanding of cultural and ethnic diversity and promoting participants' acquisition of collaboration skills across their racial boundaries. The workshop size is approximately twenty-five students every year. Below are the expected learning outcomes for this robotics workshop:
1) To provide participants with an education in robotics and engineering, using Arduino and Tinkercad toolkits.
2) For Malaysian participants to receive an introduction to the one-semester study abroad programs and laboratory internship options at our institution.
3) For Malaysian participants to understand Japanese culture and its unique impact on the field of robotics.
4) For Japanese students to learn more about their own culture and history, in English.

The aforementioned systematic issues recognized in our robotics workshop may also be causing the same issues in other online/face-to-face gPBLs. This could be impacting the effectiveness of this type of engineering program. The research mainly includes:
1) Qualitative analyses obtained from students’ feedback.
2) Quantitative analyses regarding students' global competency scores measured by MGUDS-S.
3) Demonstration of common obstacles in gPBLs and innovations applied to this interdisciplinary workshop.