IMPLEMENTING CDIO STANDARDS INTO CONFERENCE WEEK: TPU EXPERIENCE (ON THE EXAMPLE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CDIO Concept (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate), developed at the beginning of the XXI century in MIT (USA) and the leading technical universities in Sweden (KTH, Chalmers, Linkoping) is implemented in more than 120 universities around the world to prepare graduates to complex engineering activities.

International project CDIO Initiative aims at resolution of the conflict and establishment of a consensus between theory and practice in engineering education.

CDIO approach is an attempt to create an education that will allow acquiring an ever-increasing volume of disciplinary knowledge and at the same time developing practical skills necessary for successful engineering practice. The basis for the modernization of the basic engineering education according to the CDIO concept is to prepare graduates for complex engineering activity.

The concept is supported by two bases: CDIO Syllabus, determining the requirements to the learning outcomes, and CDIO Standards, setting the requirements for educational programs in the field of engineering and technology.

This paper will be devoted to the experience of Tomsk Polytechnic University in implementing CDIO Standards in the so-called “Conference week” that takes place two times within a semester. Conference week is a period intended for checking self-study work of the students, discussing the results of 8-week study and a certain summing up of received learning outcomes. CDIO Standards 2, 3 and 8 are of high relevance to the content of conference week, which will be discussed in detail in the paper.