1. New Engineering Educational Transformation (NEET)
Project-centric Construct

2. NEET Project-Centric Model
Evolution of Ideas
Evidence
Thought leaders
Benchmarking
Industry
Alumni
Students
Faculty
Principles
New Machines
Makers and discoverers
Pedagogy to support how students learn
Ways of thinking
Bold
NEET Project-Centric Model
& NEET Process

3. The Current Subject Centric Major Scheme
Subjects 1
Subject 2
Subject 3
Project
All modules also yield learning retained for life

4. NEET Project Centric Curricular Construct
Subject 1
Self Study
Subject 2
Self Study
Project A
Project B
Digital Learning
Personal and interpersonal coaching
Digital Learning
Personal and interpersonal coaching
All modules also yield learning retained for life

5. Notional Progression of NEET Projects
Project A
Project B
Project C
Project D A B C D
individual
Small group
Larger group
Heterogeneous group
Connection to Science GIRs
Market issues
Societal issues,
Other schools
Simple tools
Computational tools
Professional tools
Personal skills
Group skills
Interpersonal
Leadership
Builds on GIRs
Builds on subjects
Digital learning
Builds on self study

6. The Project Centric Construct - Description
Centered around set of maker projects focused on new machines
Projects incorporate NEET “ways of thinking” & reinforce and provide scaffolding for the technical fundamentals
There should be at least four projects with one spanning multiple semesters, requiring increasing depth and professionalism
Projects should begin in the freshman year
Called “accompanying projects”, they run concurrently and coordinate with topics in the science GIRs, providing technology context.
Built around these there should develop a “new machine community” for 1st year students.
Collectively this should convey a “Joy of Engineering” to attract and emotionally support students in the first year.

7. Project – Centric: a Shift in the Center of Gravity for Undergraduate Education
Subject Centric: well-defined sequence of coursework of increasing specialization
Evaluated through closed-ended problem solving
Projects viewed as supplemental, diminishing time available for the “core”.
Project Centric: the center of gravity shifts to the projects
Projects are supplemented by Subjects, digital education, faculty mentoring and self study, which stress the fundamentals
Students choose a thread of projects, while subjects etc. are selected from departments and taken modularly
Projects form a basis of evaluation
Flexibility (in terms of maker/discoverer, choice of emphasis) achieved by:
Choosing projects that suit their interest, and designing an appropriate set of supporting coursework to gain the fundamental knowledge
The means of acquiring the fundamentals is less important than demonstration that the student has acquired and can apply the knowledge

8. Principles of Learning – Well Guided Projects
1: Susan Ambrose, How Learning Works: 7 Research Based Principles for Smart Teaching
2: Richard Mayer, The Case for Guided Methods of Instruction
Students prior knowledge can help or hinder teaching (1)
Have to provide knowledge
Have to build upon it and activate it
Early project develop and activate “prior knowledge”
How students organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know (1)
Absent structure, knowledge decays quickly
Experts’ structure is different from early learner
Projects provide knowledge and structure
Student’s motivation determines, directs and sustains what they do to learn (1)
Values and self efficacy create motivation
Leads to behavior and eventually performance
Projects excite and motivate students
But ample evidence that instruction should be guided (2)
Cognitive activity vs. behavioral activity
Instructional guidance vs. pure discovery
Curricular focus vs. unstructured exploration

9. Criteria for Projects
Each project is application oriented towards the new machine or system
Each project is an element of a series of projects focused primarily on making, although one in the progression may have an aspect of discovery
Increasing technical challenge
Increasing non-technical considerations (market, finance, regulatory, societal, etc.)
Probably progressing from individual projects to small then large groups
Probably using increasingly more sophisticated computational tools
Designed for student success to build self-efficacy
Each contains some project specific teaching to prepare the students for success in project
There is scaffolding within the project to support progressive learning and avoid end of term pileup of work
Each includes an element of personal and interpersonal skills
Progression probably starting with personal, then group then leadership
Each has an element of self-study, so that progressively students acquire more skills and confidence
Some include some digital learning, perhaps in personal and interpersonal skills, perhaps in computation
Some explicitly form bridges to other schools (Architecture, etc.)
Some specifically set context and motivate regular technical subjects

10. New Machine
interdepartmental
Degree
Degree + Certificate
Subjects
Subjects
Project C
Subjects
Subjects
Project B
Subjects
Subjects
Project A
Subjects
Subjects
Dept. 1
Dept. 2
Faculty
Disciplines
Quality