Navigating the Situated Learning Experience in an Environmental Engineering Project from the Perspectives of Both Students and Instructors

A second year Environmental Chemistry course at the University of Toronto has students learn about the consulting industry through a semester long project. Utilizing situated learning, students play the role of consulting engineers while bidding on an environmental site assessment project. This project is overseen by two coordinators: one professional engineering consultant and one communication instructor from the faculty's Engineering Communication Program. Together, the coordinators present different types of guidance and feedback to the students while acting as clients for the project. This paper will describe the organization of the project and consider student responses to gauge how students are learning to navigate professional roles and environments through this experience.