COMPARING CONVENTIONAL AND RESOURCE BASED EDUCATION IN CHEMICAL-ENGINEERING - STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF A TEACHING INNOVATION

While the adoption of resource based education (RBE) in the teaching of individual engineering subjects is not novel, the introduction of RBE throughout an entire university department is unprecedented. The purpose of this longitudinal study with second year Chemical Engineering students (n = 31) was to detect, quantify and describe the consequences for teaching and learning of some concerns that had arisen in students as a result of the introduction of RBE. These concerns appeared to pose some formidable obstacles to the successful implementation of RBE within the academic department. 62 obstacles to effective study that were rated both serious and frequently occurring ('major problems'), were identified in conventionally taught course units and in RBE units, using personal interviews, the nominal group technique, and a modified perceived problems inventory (Cruickshank et al., 1974; Otto et al., 1979). Major study problems were isolated in each of the main learning resources provided in RBE and in conventional course units. Resource based education generated study problems for students that were quantitatively and qualitatively different from study problems encountered under conventional engineering education. Conventionally taught course units generated study problems in the lecture and student assessment components of the course, whereas RBE confronted students with new and major problems with use of the resource laboratory, with reference materials, with tutorials, and with student assessment demands. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.