Measuring the acquisition of engineering laboratory experience through the application of e-Learning: a pilot study in UniMAP

Abstract

Universities are placed under considerable pressure to produce employable graduates as the number of unemployed graduates is steadily on the rise. Industries are finding it increasingly difficult to find suitable candidates.Poor working skills and inexperienced engineers are also suggesting that engineering graduates do not seem to be aware of the kinds of experience needed in their work. Experience is often referred to as the ability of a person to solve practical challenges in a given domain. The lack of experience may be due to the way in which explicit knowledge is valued and subsequently assessed in engineering education through examinations, tests, laboratory reports and tutorial exercises. The lack of effective assessments of experience indicates implicit devaluation of experience which can significantly impair engineering students’ ability to acquire and value experience.