Student Long-Term Perception of Project-Based Learning in Civil Engineering Education: An 18-Year Ex-Post Assessment

Abstract

In 1998, the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) began to offer a 5-year civil engineering degree that, in the Spanish context, contained an innovative teaching model, which was characterized by a reduced number of students and project-based learning (PjBL) included in the curriculum. Now, 15 years after the graduation of the first civil engineers from the UCLM, graduates were given a questionnaire to evaluate the extent by which the advantages described in the PjBL literature were perceived as such by these graduates. As a result of chain-referrals and in order to cross-reference the results, a parallel questionnaire was given to their work colleagues. The survey revealed how the development of PjBL-related abilities and skills were appreciated by UCLM graduates, such as the ability to work in groups, communication/debate skills, and leadership. The engineers were generally satisfied with their theoretical and practical learning due to the high demands required of engineering undergraduates in Spanish universities. Those that had worked with PjBL, in addition to developing the skills and abilities indicated above, also considered their learning to be more effective and with a better result-to-effort ratio.