A Survey on Lifelong Learning and Project-Based Learning Among Engineering Students

Abstract

Lifelong learning is a highly important issue that most of the governments emphasize on their education programs. It is commonly known that there are various requirements such as learning how to learn, improving communication skills, teamwork abilities and controlling time-money etc. In order to successful in professional life, besides theoretical knowledge. Most of these mentioned requirements are even needed in our daily life to be able to learn efficiently, in any desired field. This study presents the results of a survey carried out to evaluate engineering students' viewpoints regarding lifelong learning and project-based learning. Their perspective on "learning-by-doing" is also investigated. Several aspects in engineering are considered, and evaluation is formed according to these aspects. The importance of theoretical knowledge, oral and written communication skills, economic perspectives, time and budget control, teamwork abilities, learning-by-project and learning-by-doing are the parameters evaluated in the survey. A descriptive analyze is performed in order to evaluate the engineering students' viewpoint about learning at Atilim University. The proposed survey is conducted with 80 students from Faculty of Engineering and the results are illustrated. Based on results, the main issue that the participants highlight is the need of change in learning methods and they are underlying that they want to get integrated more into real world. This study may help the mentors to design a new curriculum for achieving success in the field, which will also be a pioneer the success in every field of life. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.