Scaffolding First-Year Chemical Engineering Course with Project-Based Assessment
Engineering schools worldwide are actively revising their first-year courses in recognition of the importance of developing scientific, communication and other transferable skills which will aid lifelong learning in the students’ career. The Department of Chemical Engineering at Monash University, Melbourne has created a project-based assessment for its first-year process systems course. The objective of the problem-based approach is to give students the opportunity to plan, design, apply what they have learnt in the lecture and to develop their soft skills. This paper is a report on the process of creating the project and the experience of the tutors and the students as a result of the project-based assessment. The project-based assessment is also run by Monash College - Melbourne, Diploma of Engineering Studies, as part of the Summer Engineering program for the University.