Multidisciplinary Project-Based Learning: Improving Student Motivation for Learning Signal Processing

Due to its open-ended nature, project-based learning (PBL) is a suitable methodology to achieve student motivation and enrich creativity skills. This article describes the design of PBL activities in two undergraduate courses on digital signal processing techniques. The academic context is a bachelor's degree in telecommunication engineering at the Universidad de Extremadura in Spain. Full specifications for five project proposals that other instructors could use are explained, including an in-depth analysis of one of them in relation to the learning outcomes. The results of a survey designed to gain insight into students' perceptions of the PBL process are provided. All of the participants agree or strongly agree that PBL improves the long-term retention of knowledge and provides learning with a more practical orientation toward real goals than conventional learning. Also, 91% of them consider that PBL motivates them more than traditional methodologies. The instructor's conclusions after the project development and assessment are that PBL considerably helped the students to think more creatively and increased their motivation in comparison to other activities.