Sibiu,

3rd International Engineering and Technology Education Conference Romania,

& November,
DOI 10.1515/cplbu-2015-0002 7 Balkan Region Conference on Engineering and Business Education 1 – 4 ,
th st th

2015

A Cooperative Project Based Learning Course for Engineer

Students in Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering
Carola FORTELIUS
Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland
[email protected]

Arto YLI-PENTTI
Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland
[email protected]

Mikko HALSAS
Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland
[email protected]

Hannu TURUNEN
Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland
[email protected]

Timo SEURANEN
Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland
[email protected]

Marja-Leena AKERMAN
Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland
[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Problem/project-based learning is the base for the new curriculum at the department of
Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering, Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied
Sciences. The problem based learning concept, in connection with practical solutions for
organizing the courses, is discussed. The new way to pursue studies in biotechnical and
chemical engineering has meant a significant change for both students and educators. A
positive response from the students can be seen in the form of augmentation of motivation
and activity. Team skills have improved, as well as independent study capacity.
Cooperative teaching and being more of a facilitator than a traditional instructor,
challenge the role conceptions for the educators.

Keywords: project, problem, cooperative, learning

INTRODUCTION

Abandonment of studies and lack of engineering practice and abilities of graduated

engineer students has long been a central problem in engineering education all over the
world. Technical universities such as MIT, Stanford, Aalborg and Chalmers have, among
many others, detected the problem several years ago and together designed a new
educational program worldwide. The program is based on the needs from the employable
industry and is structured according to the outline of the engineer´s work process:
conceive-design-implement-operate (Crawley et al. 2014). A natural tool for teaching these
skills was found to be project- or problem based learning projects. Mills and Treagust
(2003), among others, discuss the effectiveness and relevance of these methods for
engineering education.

Within the degree course of Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering at Helsinki

Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, the amount of student drop outs had been be
around 50 % in the past. This phenomenon has caused problems in many aspects for the
university, not to speak about the student´ point of view.

To solve the problem broad measures have been taken to make the student stay and
graduate without exceeding the time limit, rise the throughput speed, improve the overall
performance and the quality of the graduated student´s engineer abilities and skills. One of
the more comprehensive changes that has been done, is to form broader study modules (5,
10 or 15 ECTS) with several teachers cooperating and include problem based learning
projects to one third of the total credits (80 out of total 240 ECTS).

In this paper we will describe our experiences from the Project Based Learning (PBL)
courses running for first year students, and the cooperative teaching within larger modules.

STRUCTURE OF THE PROBLEM BASED LEARNING PROJECTS

The chosen approach for the projects is closer to the engineering method than the scientific
method seen in figure 1 (Science Buddies, 2015). Especially at the third and fourth steps,
i.e. the requirement specifications and brainstorming steps, the differences were
emphasized.

During the first year of studies the students perform three different projects. The aim of the
first introductory project during the second autumn period is to get familiar with the PBL
process, how to organize a project, roles and group dynamics training. The professional
substance content plays a minor role. The two projects during spring semester are more
focused on substance learning and the subject for these projects is to get familiar with
industrial processes of the field. Each group performs one project based on a food
technology or a biotechnology process, the other based on a chemical engineering or a
surface treatment process.
 Figure 1: Comparision of the scientific and engineering approach for
problem solving (Science Buddies, 2015).

The study process follows a cyclic Problem Based Learning approach (fig.2).
One cycle takes six weeks and consists of the following steps:
First tutorial

1. Explore the given issues and choose one

2. Brainstorming around the issue
 3. Discussion about ´What do we know, what more do we need to know?´ Dividing
of learning assignments to be done before next tutorial
Learning assignments (one week time)

Figure 2: Cyclic learning process and distributed expertise applied in

the PBL projects (Muukkonen et al., 2005)

Second tutorial

4. Discussion about the learning tasks

5. Specification of the problem to work with
6. Structuring of the project plan
Writing of project plan & material delivery, equipment check
Practical, experimental work in the labs
Reporting of the results
Presentation of the results
Beside the projects lectures in mathematics and physics, as well as in the project
subjects, were given.

STARTING POINTS AND INCITEMENTS

Lack of commitment and motivation are often the strongest reasons behind poor study
attainments. It is sometimes hard for the student to understand why he/she has to study
things that seem to have no connection to practical life. This is one reason why real life
problems are strong tools for opening the eyes of a student. Working with the project
subject he/she realizes that he/she needs mathematics to solve an equation for an enzyme
reaction, or physics to construct a thermal isolator. Then it is suddenly interesting to learn
both mats and physics.

Finding good starting points is one of the most crucial phases during the project. We
started by analyzing the central learning goals, such as to get familiar with the industrial
field in either chemical engineering, food industry or surface treatment area, and
understand the properties and technical quality of the products produced in these fields.
Then we tried to find good incitements that could inspire the groups around the given
theme. We also wished that while working with the project the student would use some key
methods, so this was also included. The incitement. An example of an incitement can be
seen in figure 3.

Figure 3: One of the incitements used as starting point for the Applied
Project in Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering

EXAMPLES OF PROJECT THEMES

The main theme for the second project course is industrial processes and their products.
We divided the processes into three main groups according to the major subjects of the
degree course; biotechnology and food production, chemical processes and surface
treatment processes. This year the theme was chose between

Biotechnology and Food Technology: Enzymes in food processing Bioethanol

production
Chemical Engineering: Industrial chemicals, i.e. biodiesel production
with transesterification
Wastewater treatment

Materials and Surface Treatment: Pigments in paint production

Material testing

Figure 4: Experimental work during the practical part of the projects

ORGANIZING AND SCHEDULING THE PROJECTS

The class usually consists of around 100 students. From the very beginning the students are
divided into project groups of eight students per group. Each group choose a project leader,
a secretary, a contact person for communication inside the group and for keeping in touch
with outer quarters. Also other roles can be used, person in charged for analytical methods
etc. Each teacher supervises three or four groups.

During the two first tutorials the students form their own project themes, based on the
starting point they have been given. Even if several groups are given the same starting
point each project will be different and will need different kind of support. This is often a
challenge for the supervisors, especially when the projects proceed at different speed.

One way to facilitate the communication between different actors is to use an open-source
learning platform. We built a managerial system for the course with Moodle and we also
used a program called FLINGA for brain storming documentation.

Well-designed scheduling is one of the most difficult things during the planning and
implementation of the projects. Normally the courses run in eight weeks periods with a
fixed weekly timetable, but the structure of these project courses demands variations in the
weekly programs depending on what is going on at that time. So timetable problems have
been really challenging!

FEEDBACK SYSTEM AND ASSESSMENTS

To evaluate the projects we used both self-assessment and peer evaluation, in addition to
the teachers´ standpoints of the individual´s and group´s achieving and results. In most
cases the assessment was very similar independent of who did the evaluation, the student
itself, the other group members or the teachers. We also asked the students to give
feedback about this study form (table 1).

Table 1. Student feedback after the first project. Percent of affirmative answers
and free comments. Answering proportion was 52 answers out of 76 students
participating in the project course.

What did you learn? % What would you change? %

Working methods 60 More own planning 40
Team work 35 Studious inspection of the 29
Substantial know how 21 subject
More informational retrieval 23
More independent work 23
Negative feedback % Positive feedback %

Remote guidance 35 It was fun! 19

Remote instructions 17 Good educational method 10
Unsuitable timing 17 Nice to choose the subject 9
Scarce information 14 for the project

The common opinion was, that this is an inspiring form of studies. It was really motivating
to form the project theme together with the group, and then design the project plan. They
realized that a good and detailed project plan is one the most crucial things. Also to look
for background facts and do the incitements well is very important for a successful project.
Most students wished more guidance during the first project - but not so much anymore
after the third project! A few groups had problem with group dynamics and the allocation
of responsibility. In these cases we tried to interact at an early stage so that the problems
would not get insurmountable.

TEACHER´S ROLE

The major change for a teacher is to change his/her role from a traditional educator to a
coach or facilitator. The first year projects are challenging since students have not yet the
necessary knowledge to carry out practical projects. They would need a lot of instruction,
but the teacher’s involvement in early stage will also guide the course of the project
strongly. However, to keep up the motivation of the students it is necessary to keep the
ownership of the project within the student group. This creates challenges for a teacher to
balance between facilitating and involving role.

The first tutorial is the starting point for a project and therefore the starting point or trigger
is in an essential role for the project. Problem based learning was found to be a good tool to
get student groups interested in the subject. After the first tutorial the students will have an
incitement/learning task where they will study the background for the project. This was the
way to avoid too much involvement. After the second tutorial the project plan was created,
and in this stage the role of the teacher was to guide the project in a direction that could be
put into practice. From the teacher’s point of view the most important is to plan the starting
point such that there are practical projects that can be carry out within a given timeframe
and resources. It should be avoided that the subject is too difficult or the necessary
equipment are not available, since it will only frustrate the students.

Cooperative teaching is required in large projects since usually they are multidisciplinary
and the know-how of a single teacher does not cover all required areas. Even small
practical projects involve usually many disciplines, which makes them also interesting and
motivating as well for students as for teachers. They will help the students to have a more
profound understanding of the subject they study and keep them motivated. However, it is
not easy to put into action such a project course, since it requires a lot of time for planning.
The teachers may have to study different disciplines for understanding their connections to
the project subjects. It requires enthusiasm, resources and motivation to keep oneself
updated of the recent development.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We will thank the Finnish Ministry of Education and the Board of Metropolia University
of Applied Sciences for founding this project and giving us the opportunity to develop new
PBL/project based learning methods for our degree course.
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