Transformation in engineering education – a case study of remote learning experiences in China

A collaborative teaching program between Deakin University and Wuhan University of Science and Technology (WUST) is a particular realization of a learning and teaching transformation. The collaborative program aims to bring high-quality Australian curriculum standards to mechanical engineering students in Wuhan, China. To maintain collaborative teaching quality, the entire Deakin mechanical engineering program is transformed to the WUST collaborative program. This study focuses on the quality assurance of teaching in the collaborative program when the learning and teaching process happens outside Australia. When a Mechanical engineering program is offered at a different institution at a different time-span, it requires different learning and teaching support as well as educational settings. To address the first problem of insufficient equipment, we developed experimental equipment that is portable to WUST. To tackle the problem of teaching approaches, we implemented flipped-classroom teaching where equipping students with selflearning skills is emphasised. Quantitative and qualitative questions were given to the students at the end of the trimester teaching to analyse students’ experiences and expectations on the implementation of new teaching styles. The outcome of this survey is then fed back to the improvement process of such new teaching styles for the future academic years of the collaborative program. The analysed survey results give an insight into students’ perception of the new learning and teaching approaches. The initial results show the overwhelmingly positive reception of the project/design based approach. Obvious quantitative improvements that have been measured are as follows: Students’ involvement in classroom/lab activities is improved when compared to that of a previous year cohort with the same activity. The WUST students showed improvement in terms of following along the intensive teaching/learning schedule. From the survey results, more than 90% of students agreed that the group-based practical activities were most helpful towards achieving the learning goals. The project/design-based learning activities have enhanced students learning capability of understanding practical/theoretical prospects in this course.