South African student perceptions of practical laboratory work — A case study from digital systems 1

International accreditation bodies monitor and accredit engineering programmes offered by tertiary institutions based on the high standards set forth by the Washington, Sydney and Dublin Accords. These accords stipulate specific graduate attributes like problem solving, investigation, modern tool usage, sustainability, ethics, teamwork, communication, management and life-long learning. Many of these attributes may be assessed by means of practical work done by students in a laboratory. This paper presents student perceptions about practical work done by freshman engineering students for a module termed, Digital Systems 1. The paper firstly considers the importance of practical work in an engineering environment and then discusses the significance of student feedback. It then sheds light on the research methodology used in acquiring data for this research. Finally the results are analyzed which indicates that South African engineering students really enjoy practical work done in a laboratory. Student further indicated that it helps them to fuse theoretical knowledge gained in the classroom, but prefer to work alone as opposed to in groups. A key recommendation from this study is to encourage more group work among freshman engineering students so as to strengthening the vital graduate attribute of teamwork.