Student Immersive Learning Through a 3-Semester Integrated Engineering Project

This research promotes student immersive learning using a 3-semester integrated engineering project for the Coastal Engineering elective courses, namely Ocean and Coastal Engineering, Coastal Planning and Management, and Design of Coastal Structures, which are offered by Civil Engineering Programme of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS between September 2021 and May 2022. The project designed for the courses was industry-inspired and problem-based and was able to address all learning outcomes of three courses. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the proposed integrated project in promoting immersive learning experiences among the participating students through monitoring of their academic performance and upgrading of various technical and soft skill sets. The project was jointly developed with Department of Irrigation and Drainage Perak, which was the key stakeholder and beneficiary. The students were required to (1) determine the environmental forces acting on the assigned Management Unit, (2) access the coastal vulnerability based on the various data sources, and (3) design a solution to combat the coastal problems in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd semesters, respectively. The participating students had substantial hands-on experience, and consequently mastered the relevant knowledge and skills adequately. A questionnaire survey was developed to gauge the students’ learning experience through the 3-semester integrated project. The project had successfully enhanced students’ understanding and retention of knowledge through experience of solving complex and open-ended problems. It also helped to upgrade the students’ academic performance and their skill sets throughout the project implementation period.