Online project-based learning in engineering design: Supporting the acquisition of design skills

In this work, we explore and compare how different online instructional practices can support the acquisition of design skills through the eyes of students in PBL (project-based learning), as well as the impact of such practices on the student performance. Particularly, students quantitatively assessed their perception towards the effectiveness of different online practices at supporting four ways of working in design: identification of a design problem and its constraints, research of potential design solutions, design decision-making, and communication of such decisions in an appropriate format. Student perceptions suggest that effective online PBL in engineering design is underpinned by instructional practices that amalgamate personalised, constructive technical support with immediate formative feedback, and that promote deeper social connections between students and academics. Drawing on the Community of Inquiry framework for online learning, these perceptions appear to be related to the extent to which the social and cognitive presence phenomena is inherent to the specific instructional practice. The combined deployment of such online practices ensures a student performance (71.7%) which is virtually the same as for the previous cohort (72.0%), when design was fully delivered on-campus. Implications for educational practice and transferability with extension to the teaching of different engineering design disciplines and settings are discussed.