Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Figure 7.3: Requirements Engineering class cohort 1999 - 2003 (Armarego, 2004b)PBL could also challenge articulation students with regards to their tacit preconceptionsabout university education. Ferris (2003) provides a discussion of the issues of advancedstanding in an engineering education environment. Although at this point he is specificallytargeting articulation from overseas, some issues have a parallel in the Australian context:the jump, from a diploma to the middle of a University degree, demands skills that are notdirectly taught by specific units but are conveyed through the learning environment andassessment methods, the broader aspects of curriculum and through a process of encouragingstudents to question teachers and to explore through project based learning. As Ferris (2003,p 39) notes:these capabilities, distinguishing them from the mechanistic connotation of competencies,underlie success in an engineering degree but are not necessarily developedin courses mapped by a content oriented advanced standing process.Ferris concludes that the capabilities of graduates involved in articulation programmes aredifferent than those possessed by normal entry students. This difference relates to the studentsperception of the approach to the analysis of engineering problems and the ability ofthe student to create novel solutions to problems, as well as an expectation to be taught.Since these are issues targeted in this cycle, ongoing monitoring of the intervention has increasedimportance, while interpretations of the data have to take the cohort characteristicsinto consideration.279