PROJECT BASED LEARNING 1

Academic & Professional Qualifications:

BSc (Eng), MPhil (H!)" MBA (#$H!)"
Ph%&Pol'$ (H!)(, MemA#M" MemASME" Mem)EEE
*esearch )nterests:
Mechatronics" com+utational intelligence" com+uter ,ision

-./01
2el: 34//5//67
E5mail: mmd8'uen9+ol'ueduh:
P*;<E#2 BASE% =EA*>)>.
%a,id ?$E>
Department of Mechanical Engineering The !ong "ong Pol#technic $ni%er&it#
1. INTRODUCTION
2his su@Aect is called Mechatronics 8here a continuous assessment
method is incor+orated 2his su@Aect is mainl' offered in ?ear 3 of the
Higher %i+loma +rogram Since the class siBe is Cuite @ig that 8e usuall'
ha,e DEF students, the 8hole class is s+lit u+ into 3 grou+s -urther, the'
ha,e to form small grou+s 350 students +er grou+ to 8or: on the mini
+roAects )n this su@Aect, students ha,e to com+lete a mini +roAect in order to
+ass this su@Aect
2his su@Aect consists of +rinci+les of mechanics, electronics,
micro+rocessor, actuator, and sensor together )f 'ou teach this su@Aect in a
con,entional 8a' that 'ou teach each com+onent se+aratel', the contents are
eas' to get loose Ho8e,er, if 'ou use a +roAect to integrate these
com+onents altogether, the contents are @onded closel' together
2he +roAect5@ased learning a++roach aims at encouraging students to
create, training them to @ecome more confident in +ro@lem sol,ing,
im+ro,ing their management and communication s:ills, encouraging them to
find information on their o8n, increasing their a8areness of the im+ortance
of integration conce+t and ena@ling them to integrate different +rinci+les and
s:ills
2. PREPARATION
Before using this a++roach, some final +roAects of the same to+ic had
@een done 2hese +roAects +ro,ided a frame8or: for this su@Aect using the
3 Da%i' ($EN
+roAect5@ased a++roach, and that ga,e the lecturer ideas on 8hat +re+aration
8or: should @e done @eforehand As for the resources, the de+artment
su++lies all reCuired eCui+ment 8hile the students +a' for the materials
Ho8e,er, +a'ment can @e reim@ursed u+ to G1,EEE +er grou+
3. IMPLEMENTATION
-or e,er' 8ee:, a 05hour 8or:sho+, re+lacing lecture and tutorial 8hich,
ta:es +lace in the la@orator'
2he course in the first fe8 8ee:s is structured and guided Each 8ee:
8ill co,er a different to+ic and then students ha,e to do eHercises, 8hich are
related to the to+ic co,ered e,er' 8ee: 2he :no8ledge co,ered in these
fe8 8ee:s is highl' related to 8hat students should ha,e learned @efore
doing their +roAects )n short, students are eH+ected to acCuire the @asic
s:ills 8ithin this +eriod
)n the meantime, each grou+ has to su@mit a +ro+osal of the +roAect
design including the ro@ot design and the +roAect schedule 2he first come
first in +olic' is ado+ted to a,oid du+lication of +roAect ideas and encourage
inno,ation ;nce the lecturer has recei,ed the +ro+osals from different
grou+s, he 8ould challenge the design and Audge the feasi@ilit' of the
+roAect 2he lecturer 8ill also gi,e each grou+ suggestions on the design in
order to ma:e the +roAect more managea@le
)n the mid5term, each grou+ is reCuired to do a +resentation on the 8or:
+rogress of the +roAect %uring the +resentation, @esides @riefing the class
on the +roduct design, each grou+ has to eH+lain the functions of the main
electronic +arts to @e used in the +roduct Students are reCuired to use
Po8erPoint to +resent their +roAects and all +resentations must @e done in
English 2his mid5term +resentation hel+s each grou+ and the lecturer to
monitor the +rogress of the +roAect 2his also hel+s maintain the Cualit' of
the 8hole +roAect
2hroughout the 8hole +rocess, students encounter man' +ro@lems that
the' need to identif' the causes of the +ro@lems and eH+lain ho8 these
+ro@lems can @e sol,ed
At the end, each grou+ has to +resent their +roAect 2he' are reCuired to
demonstrate the final +roducts Besides, the' need to use Po8erPoint to
eH+lain the structure of their +roducts and share their eH+erience 8ith each
other
)n the final +resentation, each grou+ mem@er has to +resent at least one
+art so as to allo8 the lecturer to e,aluate the +resentation s:ills of
indi,idual student
4. ROLE OF LECTURER
2hroughout the 8hole +rocess, the lecturer acts as a facilitator to monitor
the +rogress of the +roAect to ma:e sure all +roAects are running at the
a++ro+riate +ace and guide or 8or: 8ith the students to find information
from different sources instead of +assing the information to the students
PROJECT BASED LEARNING 0
directl' =ater on, a certain amount of autonom' 8ill @e gi,en to the
students so as to gi,e them more s+ace to create
Since mostl' students 8or: on their +roAects outside classroom hours, the
lecturer 8ould @e ha++' to sta' in the la@orator' to hel+ the students to sol,e
an' +ro@lem related to their +roAects
5. ASSESSMENT
Besides a num@er of +resentations, each grou+ has to su@mit a +roAect
+roduct (ie, a ro@ot) and a 8ritten re+ort to +ass the su@Aect
5.1 PRESENTATION
)n the ,er' @eginning, each grou+ has to +resent their +ro+osed +roAect
ideas and the ro@ot design =ater, all grou+s ha,e to +resent once again as a
mid5term oral re+ort on the +rogress of their +roAects At the end of the
course, each grou+ mem@er in the final +resentation has to ta:e u+ at least
one +art so as to allo8 the lecturer to e,aluate the +resentation s:ills of
indi,idual student 2herefore, the final grade of the mem@ers of the same
grou+ ma' ,ar'
5.2 PROJECT PRODUCT
Each grou+ at the end needs to su@mit a small to' ro@ot as +artial
fulfillment of this su@Aect 2he final +roduct should at least ha,e the @asic
functionalities set out in the su@Aect )f the ro@ot has these @asic
functionalities, the grou+ 8ill +ass the su@Aect 8ithout difficult' #ertainl',
students can add in some more functionalities to ma:e their +roducts more
outstanding 2hen, the' 8ill ha,e the chance to get higher mar:s ;ther
than functionalities, assessment criteria for the final +roduct also include
creati,it', com+leHit' and a++earance
5.3 PROJECT REPORT
Each grou+ has to su@mit a 1E5+age final re+ort to la'out the structure of
the +roAect and to gi,e detailed eH+lanations a@out the +roduct design
.uidelines are +ro,ided to the students to hel+ them 8rite u+ the re+ort
At the end, each grou+ has to fill out a form to eH+lain the amount of
contri@ution of each grou+ mem@er amongst the grou+ )t is difficult to find
out the truth @ut it is eas' for the lecturer to Audge @' dail' o@ser,ation
6. STUDENT FEEDBACK
Students are 8illing to s+end eHtra time on their +roAects
2he Student -eed@ac: Questionnaire sho8s that students
fa,or the +roAect5@ased learning a++roach
D Da%i' ($EN
Students commented that the' gained a sense of success
from the +roAect in 8hich the' had to create a ro@ot on
their o8n
2he eH+erience gained from the +roAect also ma:es the
students @ecome confident handling their Ao@ in to'
industr'
7. A PIECE OF ADVICE
Should ha,e some eH+erience of leading a similar +roAect
@efore
2r' @est to get sufficient su++orts and resources from 'our
de+artment
#a+a@le of handling different t'+es of +ro@lems
PROJECT BASED LEARNING 6
+ 6