Facilitating Problem-Based Learning Using Information and Communications Technology

The Department of Chemical Engineering, Sydney University, has established a program built on a problem-based learning (PBL) approach that incorporates a diversity of major projects. This program is both novel and aligned with the graduate attributes prescribed by professional accreditation bodies, both nationally and internationally. Within the new curriculum, PBL is incorporated as a key theme spanning all four years. A critical component is an integrated Web-plant consisting of two main structural elements: (i) a ´hands-on´ facility designed as a flexible and versatile process and product engineering toolkit, consisting of reactors, separators, mixers, pumps, valves, piping and instruments; and (ii) a Web-enabled interactive control system which allows both ´virtual´ experiments as well as designing/controlling processes and studying their dynamics and scale-up. Real-time modelling is used to provide synthetic data for a set of reactions that interact with operational plant data, giving the impression that the reaction is occurring in the experimental rig. This paper presents our recent experiences with the design of our problem-based learning approach