Developing Global Engineers Through Interdisciplinary PBL and Design Thinking

Abstract

From December 2018 to September 2019, academics from different subject groups and professional staff from the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS) at Aston University worked together to design and implement the first interdisciplinary Problem Based Learning (PBL) module within the College. This module integrated key knowledge related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and real-life problems from the Engineers without Borders (EWB) UK and was designed to enhance the student's critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This work will detail how this initiative was pioneered at Aston University to integrate SDGs, sustainable engineering, ethics, and engineering design principles into the engineering curricula using interdisciplinary PBL and design thinking, followed by the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the outcomes of the initiative.