Project-based learning approach: improvements of an undergraduate course in new product development.

Abstract

Product development is considered as an interdisciplinary undergraduate course with a central role in engineering education. In this sense, this paper demonstrates an experience of a product development undergraduate course based on a project-based learning (PBL) perspective. PBL has been discussed in the literature as one of the most effective teaching frameworks for engineering courses, but there is still scarce research on PBL implementation in engineering education in developing countries. The course scope was reviewed to include engineering management content and to face some barriers for PBL implementation highlighted in the literature. The student activities were organized in four development phases following a structured stage-gate development process. The results achieved include a higher level of learning perception and increased complexity of products generated by students. Besides demonstrating the improvements in the course, this paper contributes to PBL empirical body of knowledge by exploring a successful initiative and its outcomes.