Enabling systems thinking for engineering students

Recent developments in science and technology have resulted in many advances in our daily lives and societal conditions. These developments led to increasingly complex engineering systems that tackle a wide range of societal needs. However, these also demand a broader skill-set for each engineer working with these systems and his/her training must span a greater range than that available in conventional engineering curricula. In order to deal with complex engineering systems, an engineer needs to have a good grasp of various technical fields such as computing, electrical, and mechanical engineering as well as competence in soft skills and systems thinking skills. This paper presents our multidisciplinary and project-based approach to impart these skills to our engineering students. The module consists primarily of conceive, design, implement and operate (CDIO) elements and aims to link diverse fields of engineering as well as developing the soft skills and systems thinking skills of our students. It is a year-long component of our Diploma in Engineering Systems course and it is offered in the second year of the curriculum in order to invoke these skills earlier in each student's professional life. The design and implementation process in this module integrates various fields and skill-sets, giving students a realistic experience in dealing with engineering systems. Before embarking on this module, students have already gained plenty of hands-on experience and project management skills through other project based modules such as Introduction to Engineering and Engineering Prototyping in their first year. This paper will present details of this module and its implementation together with our preliminary evaluations and observations.