Experiential Learning Environments: Do They Prepare Our Students to be Self-Directed, Life-Long Learners?

Journal of Engineering Education, Jul 2006 by Jiusto, S, DiBiasio, D

Also shown in Table 4 are the overall quality ratings. This rating is a summary evaluation of all project aspects: objective definition, literature synthesis, methodologies, data collection, results and analysis, writing and presentation quality, and overall depth. The differences between off and on-campus projects are clear, and as with the IDEA results, suggestive of substantial benefits accruing to a large fraction of students in the study-abroad program.

Table 4 also shows results from three items related to SDL, and like the LLL item, off-campus students consistently out-perform those on-campus. Research skills include relevant literature reviewed, understood, and synthesized; and appropriate choice and application of methodology. Critical thinking involves rigorous analysis of results with conclusions grounded in sound interpretation, while communication evaluates the written and visual quality of the report.

C. SDLRS Results

Test results shown in Table 5 indicate the Global Program project experience had a modest, positive effect on students' readiness for self-directed learning, with average pre/post scores increasing 3.3 points, statistically significant at the p = 0.06 level. The distribution of pre/post score changes shows that for many students (43 percent), the experience resulted in relatively small changes (

Looking at sub-populations within the cohort, average scores by gender were quite similar (males 219/222 pre/post, females 221/223), though males improved somewhat more on average (3.7 points, p = 0.03) than did females (2.5 points, p = 0.48, not statistically significant). The distribution of male and female students with respect to the /- 10 point threshold was quite similar. Students completed their projects in one of eleven WPI Project Centers, of which five were located in places where English is a primary language (London, Australia, Puerto Rico, Boston, and Washington) and six were in primarily non-English speaking locations (Bangkok, Copenhagen, Costa Rica, Venice, Zurich and Namibia). Students sojourning to English-speaking Project Centers started with significantly lower average SDLRS scores (216 versus 224), but gained more (4.6 versus 1.4) than their non-English Project Center counterparts.

These results are similar to those obtained by Litzinger and colleagues [1-3]. However, the Penn State study [3] did show a statistically significant increase in SDLRS, on average, for a problembased learning experience. The means shown here are somewhat lower than those reported by Penn State seniors in capstone design but are comparable to juniors at Penn State [I]. All the students in the WPI cohort were fifth or sixth semester juniors. Our results indicate that WPI's nontraditional, experiential off-campus project experience has a positive impact on student SDL readiness. On average, and for many individuals, the depth of these gains appear modest, although for a sizable group the gains are impressive and hence potentially an indicator of real educational accomplishment in promoting LLL. More worrisome, however, are the corresponding SDLRS declines reported by a smaller fraction of students.