Abstract:

In project-based engineering education, one recurrent challenge is not only solving technical problems correctly, but also managing graphical information collaboratively within student teams. In Integrated Project Management, a course in the Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering at the University of La Rioja, students develop full industrial plant projects and must coordinate reports, technical decisions, layouts, equipment locations, plant distributions, and successive design versions. In this context, locally installed graphical tools often hinder shared visualization, coordinated review of alternatives, and internal team communication. SketchUp was introduced in the academic year 2024/25 as a shared 3D environment to address this need and to strengthen transversal competences closely linked to project work, particularly teamwork, visual communication, creative and critical thinking, and digital skills.

This study analyzes comparative evidence from the academic years 2016/17 to 2025/26. The analysis combines the official records of Integrated Project Management with the course’s quality-perception questionnaires. Three questionnaire items were selected because they are especially close to the expected educational value of SketchUp: improvement of skills through the teaching methodology, exchange of experiences among participants, and perceived usefulness of learning for future professional competences. Across the full series, the mean number of completed questionnaires was 17.7 per academic year.

Results place 2024/25, the year in which SketchUp was implemented, in the strongest overall position of the entire series. Mean scores reached 4.43/5 for methodological improvement of skills, 4.50/5 for exchange of experiences, and 4.64/5 for professional usefulness. These are the highest values in the historical comparison for all three indicators. When the three items are considered jointly, 2024/25 reaches an overall profile of 4.52/5, clearly above the series mean of 4.16/5. The same pattern appears when responses are grouped into high ratings: at least 92.9% of students selected 4 or 5 in each of the three indicators, confirming a remarkably consistent positive perception of the methodology. This superiority is not marginal or isolated, but simultaneous across the three dimensions most directly connected to the expected contribution of a shared modeling tool.

This result is especially relevant because the selected items do not measure generic satisfaction, but dimensions directly connected with the pedagogical value of SketchUp in plant-design contexts: more effective skill development, richer peer interaction, and clearer professional transfer of learning. In other words, the strongest year in the comparative series is also the one in which the new shared graphical environment was introduced. Taken together, the evidence supports the interpretation that introducing SketchUp in 2024/25 contributed positively to shared graphical management and to the reinforcement of key transversal competences in engineering education.

Keywords:

Engineering education, Project management, Transversal competences, Project-based learning, Collaborative learning, Shared modeling tool.