The Impact Of Active Learning And Social Relevance On Product Design And Manufacturing Courses

This paper presents the research work of a NSF CCLI project for analyzing the impact of medical device-related active learning pedagogies in two courses within the engineering curriculum: New Product Development and Manufacturing Processes. The main focus of the study is on the impact of these approaches on students’ engagement and conceptual understanding of course material. A project-based learning (PBL) approach was incorporated into both courses through real medical device projects to provide students with hands-on experiences on the challenges of medical device design and development. The courses were enhanced to provide a combination of lectures on theoretical concepts and hands-on sessions focused on the medical device project to help students through the learning process and the realization of their projects. Project assessment included the expert opinion of local industry practitioners who interacted directly with the students. Analysis of the results of this approach is presented. This paper focuses on preliminary results relevant to the New Product Development course.