Comparison of PBL Curricua within Control Engineering Education

During the last twenty years, various forms of PBL have been implemented in diverse educational programs and national policy regulations, and to different extents, ranging from a single course level to an integrated PBL curriculum. This has resulted in a variety of PBL curriculum practices. In this article, a comparison of two PBL cases will be described in order to study the advantages and disadvantages of the two systems. One case presents a single level comprised of two courses and the other one is an integrated PBL curriculum, and both are focused on control engineering courses. The PBL approaches are compared based on an analysis of the study guidelines, the technical curriculum, the themes of the project, the project introduction and specification given by staff, as well as student outcomes in the form of technical skills and skills related to specification requirements, project organization and structuring based on a study of written project proposals and student reports delivered. The results show that both the PBL curricula formulated the same technical learning outcomes, modeling and control methods; however, in the curriculum practice there are differences related to the scope of curriculum objectives, knowledge, independence of the student work, supervision management, and students' preconditions related to PBL.