Hands-on Project Based Learning during lockdown – Lessons learned and what does the future hold?

Abstract

The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the Delft University of Technology has an active learning philosophy which is embedded in its curriculum. The first year project Design and Construction is run in the second semester. The course aims to provide “hands-on” experience to students in design and construction. Applying knowledge from courses and developing interdisciplinary (soft) skills. A total of 400 students are divided into 40 groups of approximately ten students which are given several design challenges during the project. At the end of the project a final design challenge is given to build and test an aluminium wing design. In March 2020, half-way through the project, the Dutch government announced a nationwide lockdown which resulted in the University being closed to students and the remainder of the academic year being offered online. This paper will reflect on the challenges, solutions and online experience of the project and examines the on-campus v.s. online experience. The conclusion can be drawn that the learning objectives can be reached both on-campus and online. As was found in previous studies, online requires a common collaboration program and more structure to meet or exceed on-campus education. There is an advantage for online looking at the student grade data.