Paper from Built Environment Education Conference (BEE Conference) 2005
The 1963 Robbins Report on higher education in the UK proposed inter alia more than doubling full-time student numbers (to 560 000) by 1980. This marked the beginning of rapid dramatic expansion of student numbers in higher education. Since 1980 undergraduate student numbers have more than doubled to approximately two million and the lower side of the socio-economic range of students entering higher education has significantly increased. Over the last decade the framework for delivering education has been revolutionised with teaching and learning activities being compartmentalised by modularisation and semesterisation. Along with these major changes there has been an increased imposition of ‘managerialism’ by which universities undergo scrutiny and accountability at every level and in terms of policy and practices. During the same period there have been unparalleled developments in information and communications technology (ICT). Universities continue to attempt to instil in their students a culture of responsibility for their own learning using terms such as student-centred learning. Pedagogical developments particularly for undergraduate studies have not kept pace with these changes. A more radical approach to undergraduate education using tested educational theory combined with developments in ICT could significantly assist the attainment of learning outcomes which are demanded by industry today. A model has been developed by the School of the Built Environment in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ulster to illustrate how effective independent learning can be encouraged through experiential learning which utilises problem-/project-based learning assisted by electronic information sources with parameters defined to meet the limits of the problem/project. Such an approach should better prepare graduates for the current challenges facing industry. This paper describes the model.
