2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engineering technology has become one of the lucrative career choices made by the students in the recent years. The extensive career opportunities in a wide variety of industries have been demanding hands-on experience from the recent graduates. Recent studies on the engineering work force demonstrated the need for communication skills in addition to the technical knowledge. One way of achieving these employer-desired skills is by incorporating project based learning in the upper-level classes of the engineering technology program. This paper will present a detailed study of implementing project based learning technique in a senior-level class of the engineering technology program. This investigation had shown that the hands-on experience earned by the students who has free-hand in selecting the team, design, implementation, analysis, and presentation, improved the learning experience. The role of the instructor had been more mentorship than instruction. Holding weekly meetings and reports had shown the continuous student engagement. Importance of the peer evaluation was stressed throughout the semester. This research has shown that the project based learning mechanism has not only improved technical and communication skills, but also team management skills.