Effectiveness of student engagement pedagogies in a mechatronics module: A 4-year multi-cohort study

Abstract

This paper investigates whether students will be more engaged in solving real-world and open-ended engineering problems when student-centred learning pedagogies are introduced. In-class demonstrations, case studies, multimedia presentations, and a two-day end-of-semester student conference were implemented in a Mechatronics module on Instrumentation and Sensing to complement the lectures. Data from the university-administered student feedback report were analysed for the four years that the pedagogies were implemented. The major finding from this work suggests that a multi-background, multidisciplinary, and multinational student audience have responded favourably to the combination of pedagogies that were introduced.