Curtin University has recently become the first Western Australian university collaborator of the global engineering education framework Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate, (CDIO).
CDIO is a framework for teaching in engineering, implemented in more than 100 university courses around the world. Its success is based on its vision, that in order to solve problems, engineering students should be able to Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate engineering systems in a team-based environment.
Associate Professor Nicoleta Maynard, Curtin’s Director of Engineering Education Development, said this was an exciting step forward for Curtin Engineering, particularly as the CDIO initiative promotes the use of active and independent learning approaches in the engineering curriculum to ensure students become highly sought-after industry-ready graduates.
“Curtin’s long standing tradition as a hands-on engineering university along with our development of up-to-date, rigorous curricula made seeking admission into the CDIO community a natural step,” Associate Professor Maynard said.
“As a result, all Curtin engineering schools can now contribute and access teaching resources from the CDIO community, including international universities such as Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). We are very proud to be the first Western Australian university and the fourth Australian university to be able to take up such a tremendous opportunity.”
The CDIO framework was proposed by MIT in collaboration with three Swedish universities in the early 2000s.
A core part of the framework is the development of professional and interpersonal skills, achieved through active group learning experiences in workshops, laboratories and field placements with the active participation of industry.
For more information, visit CDIO’s website.
