Journal of Engineering Education Transformations

Pradeep Waychal ¹

Affiliations
1 SVKM’s NMIMS (Deemed-to-be-University), Shirpur, IN

Abstract

The final year (capstone) projects are the largest - and in many cases the only - projects that engineering students execute. The projects require sufficient attention both at the selection and execution phases. We designed and delivered a workshop to the final (senior) year students, at the start of the year. It helped them to choose projects aligned with their passions and that can solve real life problems. Twenty nine out of thirty seven students - who attended the workshop - opined that they changed the direction or the project. We require iterating the experiment with more number of students for validationof the concept and refining the workshop to accrue benefits to more students.

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Pramod Raichurkar ¹, Vishnu Dorugade ¹, Pradeep Waychal ¹

Affiliations
1 SVKM's, NMIMS, Shirpur, IN

Abstract

Indian Textile industry is unique in many ways. It is the second largest employer and depends heavily on the largest employer - agriculture. It has been successful in automating most of its operations. So, instead of employing unskilled labor, it is now looking for skilled labor and facing significant challenges in finding them - even though the national unemployment has been hovering at around 9 %. The situation demanded a different approach such as setting up textile training courses in a remote area where employment is a larger issue and working closely with the industry to develop highly employable graduates. The paper describes a successful case study ofsetting up a four year diploma course in close collaboration with the industry in a remote town of Shirpur in North Maharashtra (India). That required a team of faculty that could inspire confidence in the industry personnel and adopting progressive educational methods such as active learning and mentoring. The school was started in 2007 and has produced 200 diploma holders with cent percent placement. This is far above similar other institutes. These students from rural and semi-rural area are fetching salaries that are higher than even graduate engineers. Thus the experiment has succeeded in its twin objectives of rural development and workforce development for one of the most critical industry of the country.

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Pradeep Waychal ¹

Affiliations
1 SVKM’s NMIMS (Deemed-to-be-University), Shirpur, IN

Abstract

The final year (capstone) projects are the largest-and in many cases the only-projects that engineering students execute. The projects require sufficient attention both at the selection and execution phases. We designed and delivered a workshop to the final (senior) year students, at the start of the year. It helped them to choose projects aligned with their passions and that can solve real life problems. Twenty nine out of thirty seven students-who attended the workshop-opined that they changed the direction or the project. We require iterating the experiment with more number of students for validation of the concept and refining the workshop to accrue benefits to more students.

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Pradeep Waychal ¹

Affiliations
1 SVKM'S NMIMS, Shirpur, IN

Abstract

The paper describes our experience of using team-and project-based learning (TBL PBL) instructional strategy, which, despite strong evidence of efficacy, is underused - especially - in the early years of engineering education. We describe our framework FAME (form, allocate, monitor and evaluate) for operationalizing the strategy and illustrate it's usage for a sophomore course in digital system design. We found that the strategy resulted in students understanding basic concepts well and utilizing them in developing real life applications as well as developing teamwork, self-learning, and time management skills. We believe that the framework and our experience can be helpful to other faculty members to implement the TBL PBL strategy in their courses.

Keywords

Project Based Learning, Team Based Learning, Digital System Design.

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Pradeep Waychal ¹

Affiliations
1 Guruji Education Foundation, Thane (W) Maharashtra-400610, IN

Abstract

The main issue the Indian engineering education system has been facing is poor employability. Earlier solutions to tackle the issue were unclear and now the NBA (National Board of Accreditation) has provided solution by identifying a list of graduate attributes.The attribute list has defined what is to be done and has left the task of how it is to be done to the engineering institutes.The colleges are not able to manage the 'how' part due to the heavy curricular load and the paucity of qualified faculty.We present a solution of conducting a one-day workshop on 'innovating success' that can help develop the attributes and identify appropriate final year projects, which can further accentuate the development. We conducted the workshop at a leading college in the state of Maharashtra that was successful in providing opportunities to develop the attributes as per the participants' rating. The workshop also provided a superior learning experience as per the overall workshop rating given by the participants. It was 4.5 out of 5. We need to extend the workshop to two days, or carry out iteration, or design a semester long course to strengthen the development. Given the size of the Indian engineering education system, we would require effective scaling solutions.

Keywords

Graduate Attributes, Innovation, Creativity, Employability, Active Learning.

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