Abstract:

Nowadays, engineering students present a lack of knowledge about future career opportunities as well as field placements during their university studies. This generates doubts and uncertainties for the students, leading to loss of interest and, in the worst-case scenario, dropping out. With the aim of overcoming this widespread situation, professors of 6 different degrees at the Escuela Politécnica Superior de Alcoy have carried out a new project using the design thinking methodology. It was concluded that approaching chemical engineering students to solve real cases could awaken their interest and prepare them for the real world. In this way, a new active methodology is created in which students can address real problems from local interested companies. At the moment, 20 recognised companies have agreed and have decided to open their facilities to students' visits, leading them to be more involved in the needs of the companies.

The active methodology will last 2 years, but so far, the students have visited several companies related to textile industries, one of the largest industries near the university campus. In these visits, students were involved in different industrial operations to understand how it works. This was the starting point for proposing real cases of these industries, in which students had to analyze chemical engineering processes by creating small groups (4-5 people). Afterwards, the groups presented the results with feedback from teachers and companies. The assessment of the first stage of active learning was evaluated through anonymous student surveys requesting key aspects such as general perception or skills developed, among others.

Therefore, this first evaluation has revealed two critical aspects for enhancing the methodology. One is related to students’ interest in the subjects to prove the new methodology developed. The second is to find out the weak points of the project through the students’ opinions in order to apply in the second year of the methodology. In this sense, the active learning methodology continuously improves, enabling the students to gain new skills and knowledge required by companies and society. This project has promoted teamwork, research, and theoretical and practical knowledge implementation to solve real problems by involving companies in training future engineers.

Keywords:

Active learning methodology, engineering students, synergy, company involvement.