Using “System Sensing ” During the Implementation of a New Mechatronics Engineering Curriculum

“System sensing ” [1], or a feedback loop, has been integrated into the implementation of a new mechatronics engineering curriculum at the University of Canterbury through a sustained, three-year collaboration between engineering lecturers and academic developers. Data were collected each year from the first cohort of students and lecturers through focus groups, course evaluations, specifically designed surveys, and observations. The data were analysed by the academic developers and results and recommendations were fed back to the engineering lecturers so that they could adjust the curriculum, the teaching, and the assessments to better meet the goals they had in mind when designing the new curriculum such as: students engaged in significant design projects at every year and a strong connection with industry [2]. Positive outcomes from this approach included statements by mechatronics graduates that they had obtained core skill sets in both mechanical and electrical instead of an initial lack of identity as “neither mechanical nor electrical.