CESI’s school of engineering has implemented a project-oriented, problem-based learning curriculum named A2P2 in its combined work and study engineering degree program since 2015. The new school curriculum revolves around cross-disciplinary projects carried out in small groups and was designed to professionalize the students even more.
The Direction of CESI Ecole d’Ingénieurs wished to study the effects of this pedagogy on knowledge acquisition, competencies development and professional identity of the students.
This doctoral research was conducted over 3 years, and led to a PhD thesis.
Main results
This research work endeavours to question the challenges and assets of this learning environment as regards the professional identity construction of the future engineers. As the program was conceived to allow students to experiment engineering roles, we first assumed that it should positively affect their professional identity construction. We also advanced the hypothesis that its impact should differ from one student to another as students’ individual dispositions interact with the learning environment and thus affect their experiences.
The data collected supports the theory of the school curriculum contributing to students’ identity development, through the iteration of efficient patterns of actions. They also bring out several development profiles –professional identity dynamics that are bolstered through specific resources and levers of development, depending on students’ set out goals for their training. The results also point out that school and companies provide different levers to support students’ professional becoming.
Publications
BADETS A. (2016). Pédagogie par projets et construction de l’identité professionnelle. Actes du colloque doctoral international de l’éducation et de la formation. Nantes : 27 -28 octobre, 269-277.
BADETS A. (2016) Project-based learning and professional identity construction. Proceedings of the EAPRIL Conference 2016. Porto, Portugal, 22nd – 25th November 51-65.
BADETS A. (2017). Identités, dispositions et apprentissage collaboratif. Actes du IXème colloque QPES : relever les défis de l’altérité dans l’enseignement supérieur. Grenoble 13-16 juin, 903.-910.
BADETS A. (2017).Engineering curriculum development. Socialization, soft skills and identity construction. Proceedings of the 45th SEFI Annual Conference 2017: Education Excellence for Sustainability. 18-21 September, Azores, Portugal, 1370-1377.
BADETS A. (2019). Coopération, auto-efficacité et professionnalisation en contexte d’apprentissage par projets. Actes du Xème colloque QPES : (Faire) coopérer pour (faire) apprendre ? Brest 17-21 juin, 33-48.
BADETS A. (2019). Addressing gender as part of a Multifactorial Model of Professional Identity Formation in a PoPBL engineering learning environment, in SEFI 47th Annual Conference Proceedings, Budapest, 16-20 September 2019, 93-105.
BADETS A. (2019). Learning space design & engineering identity development of students in a PBL context, in EAPRIL 2019 Conference Proceedings, November 27–29, 2019 Tartu, Estonia, 238-254.
Start of project: December 2014
End of project: November 2018