CURRICULUM ADAPTATION IN ERAS OF TRANSFORMATION BY UTILIZING A CDIO ENABLING PLATFORM

Concerning profession degree programs, this contribution discusses aspects of curriculum design that arguably will become affected by the ongoing digital transformation of the society. For this purpose, a CDIO Enabling Platform (CEP) is exemplified with hardware representing a modular cargo bicycle under development. Paired with a corresponding scenario tailored to simultaneously support multiple courses with active learning modules, the platform simulates a multi-disciplinary engineering environment during a full semester. On a broader perspective, the way learning activities are organized using the CEP, a less rigid curricula structure is enabled. The paper argues that, for academic programs to stay relevant throughout the period of its execution of up to five years, inevitably a more flexible and adaptable curricula will become necessary as demands from the community rapidly transform under the influence of trends like IoT, AI and Industry 4.0. Furthermore, the CEP is being evaluated from the faculty perspective, represented by a team of program planners and course examiners, with the specific purpose of assessing its effects on a number of parameters, including motivation, engagement, and examination results. A key component in the concept of CEP is industry engagement during planning and execution of the curricula. The initial response from the industry is very positive according to results from an interview study during which the platform was introduced and evaluated by SMEs in Sweden. In addition, an in-depth interview with a representative of the industry reveals several interesting issues and potential uses of the CEP regarding the need for life-long learning and re-education due to obsolete core knowledge among the workforce. Following an in-depth discussion regarding the role of active learning modules of a curriculum, the conclusion is that a learning platform, such as the CEP, could be used to tackle future demands on engineering education institutions, driven by an accelerating pace of transformation within related technical domains.