Aligning Learning Outcomes to Improve Communication and Learning Skills in an Interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning Environment

Engineers require the skill of effective communication and interaction with architects to be successful throughout their professional career. While the relationship between architects and structural engineers develops during their professional career, it is often overlooked during their undergraduate education. This paper presents learning strategies to improve the communication between engineering and architecture students as well as the awareness of the others’ profession. The strategy of aligning learning outcomes to develop communication skills and prevent reproductive learning are applied in four continuous assessment problem-based learning (PBL) submissions. The strategies were applied in the experimental setting of a Stage 1 undergraduate module jointly offered to architecture and general entry engineering students at the School of Civil Engineering, University College Dublin. Results from surveys showed the students enjoyed the module and had a high level of understanding of the other profession at the end of the module. The students identified an improvement in their own communication skills as a result of the module.