Making Industrial Visits More Outcome Oriented

Industrial site visits play a crucial role in addressing the graduate outcomes of engineering education. However, it is a common observation that such visits result in less learning and more fun. This paper attempts to quantify the outcomes of industrial visits using a proposed pedagogical method named Stimulate – Experience - Assimilate/Accommodate - Reinforce (SEAR). The method has been developed using the social constructivism principle. This paper demonstrates the efficacy of this method through a case study of two industrial visits for Chemical Engineering third-year undergraduate students. The first visit lacks any unique input, while the second visit follows the SEAR method. This includes modified classroom inputs, pre-visit questionnaires for stimulation of interest, on-field experience during the visit, post visit questionnaires for assimilation of the gained knowledge and reinforcement through report compilation and presentations. The outcome attainment for the first visit is 52.95% while that for second visit is 77.78%. The results of the outcome assessment are statistically examined and the SEARmethod is found to be effective in achieving the outcomes of the industrial visit. The proposed SEAR method is a combination of classroom, inquiry based, experiential and collaborative learning. It will help academicians to design more engaging and outcome oriented industrial visits. This will further help pave the way for creation of graduates with greater employability skills.