Implementation of an Effective Project-Based Learning Methodology in the Freshman Year of Engineering and Technology Programs

The goal of this innovative practice paper is to describe the implementation of a project-based learning mechanism in the academic curriculum. One such mechanism called 'Innovative Projects' has been implemented at our university to systematically foster an innovation culture among all students of engineering and technology programs at the grassroots level. The primary goal of this initiation is to encourage, inspire, and nurture all freshman students of various engineering and technology programs by assisting them in developing innovative ideas and prototyping them. This initiative provides an excellent opportunity for new undergraduate students to develop innovative ideas using Arduino and Raspberry Pi embedded boards. Innovative projects also provide an opportunity for freshman students to interact with first year students from other departments in order to improve their research skills and encourage interdisciplinary projects. The plan allows students to select their own project group members and a faculty advisor, allowing them to take advantage of intensive course training and laboratory facilities. This strategic plan ensures that students gain knowledge through a project-based learning process to solve many real-world technology-related problems. In this paper, we will describe our experiences of successfully implementing innovative project courses in the freshman year of all engineering and technology programs offered at our university. In the previous and present academic years, two courses on innovative projects were introduced for the first time in the curricula of all engineering and technology programs offered at our university. These two courses are named Innovative Project-Arduino Using Embedded C (CSE 1002) and Innovative Project-Raspberry Pi Using Python (CSE 1003). The CSE 1002 and CSE 1003 courses were offered for the first time in the freshman year during the spring semester of the academic year 2021-22 and during the fall semester of the academic year 2022-23, respectively. The introduction of these two innovative project courses has completed its initial successful pilot run for the first batch of over 5000 freshman students. These two courses are currently being offered for the second batch of over 5000 freshman students. Experiences gained during the pilot run are being infused into the second batch offering of these courses and will be shared in this article. All aspects starting from the design of these two innovative projects courses, the establishment of a dedicated innovative laboratory to support these courses, pedagogical approaches adopted for teaching these courses, assessment, and evaluation of these courses will be discussed. The introduction and successful implementation of such innovative project courses on a massive scale in the freshman year of all engineering and technology programs at the university level is a novel concept. Focus groups conducted with the freshman students of the various engineering and technology programs demonstrate that they valued this opportunity because it provided them with the necessary technical and entrepreneurial skills that may be required to succeed in the capstone projects later in their respective undergraduate programs.