Assessing the Usability and Effectiveness of Chemical Engineering Capstone Design Project Teaching and Learning Model

Abstract

In recent years, industry leaders, academicians, and ABET standards have expressed renewed interest in teaching engineers to solve real-world and open-ended problems. In chemical engineering program, a capstone design project is a course that allows students to deal with these problems whilst using the knowledge they have acquired from previous courses offered in the curriculum. The course represents all the Accreditation Board for Engineering Education (ABET) program outcomes required for accreditation. To enhance students' learning and meet the program outcomes requirements, we present this work focusing on the evaluation phase of an effective teaching and learning model. This model is specifically designed for chemical engineering capstone projects and aligns with the intended program outcomes. Additionally, it allows us to assess the model's effectiveness and its impact on student learning. This study aims to assess the usability and effectiveness of the designed survey questionnaires in investigating the suitability of conducting a capstone design project via this approach method. The research methodology centered on creating and validating a survey questionnaire to evaluate the suitability of the capstone design project approach. The population of this study was final-year students of the chemical engineering degree program, Faculty of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Malaysia, enrolment 2020/2021. To ensure the reliability and validity of the survey instrument, a pilot test was conducted with a minimum of thirty respondents, employing Cronbach Alpha (CA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The analysis results indicate the survey questionnaires are reliable and valid, with a CA value of 0.891 and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index of 0.690. The evaluation results show improved students’ understanding of program outcomes and also their perceptions that the capstone design course helped their professional growth. Also, the detailed assessment and feedback given to students via this teaching and learning model made the course more valuable for preparing them for industry careers. This work resulted in better ways to teach, manage, and assess the technical and non-technical course outcomes. Indirectly, it can improve the current practices used by instructors.