This study seeks to explore whether a combination of traditional teaching methods with project-based learning (PBL) activities can improve the student learning experience in an engineering course of soil mechanics. As an alternative to the traditional type of assignment that consisted of several textbook problems, a project-based assignment was…

Over the past few years many universities worldwide have introduced a common first year for all engineering disciplines. This is despite the opinion of many academics that large classes have negative effects on the learning outcomes of first year students. The University of South Australia is also faced with low motivation amongst engineering…