Re-Designing Curricula for Engineering Graduates: An Innovative 3-Dimensional Model Using Students’ Perceptions, Teachers’ Reflections, and Industry Demands

Abstract

A scientifically designed curriculum is a key to achieving outcomes of any engineering education program. Engineering education has become a highly transformative field in the past few years; its conventional curriculum requires rigorous face-lifting and redesigning. The new age engineering program curriculum demands the inclusion of several transformative teaching-learning models and modern methods of assessment. These modern pedagogical practices have been well incorporated from time to time within the engineering education framework at various levels and stages. However, owing to the lack of explicit information on the modern curriculum attributes, the curriculum design has remained an area of exploration. This paper represents a systematic and scientific approach of designing the curriculums for undergraduate engineering programs. There are three important aspects of curriculum attributes namely knowledge, skills and experiential learning have been emphasized constructing the base of 3-dimensional model of curriculum designing. The paper discusses the current scenario for the engineering curriculum, the present needs and feedback from three important stakeholders namely students, teachers, and employers. The feedback revealed that students are looking forward to learning inter-disciplinary courses in their regular curriculum. The teachers require freedom of re-planning sessions unconventionally and the variations in the assessment models. The employers expect state-of-the-art knowledge, skills, and industry exposure from the students. The article finally extracts the significant attributes from the feedback analysis received from the stakeholders and suggests the micro-contents and attributes to be incorporated within the existing curriculum structure. The article provides one of the most effective ways to design the curriculum for the undergraduate engineering programs by achieving the desired outcomes and attainment levels.