Overcoming the Barriers to Success in T452: Enabling Students (OBSTACLES)

Project leader(s): Gareth Neighbour Andrea Patel

Theme: Supporting students
Project faculties: STEM
Status: Current
Date: February 2026 to January 2027

The Engineering degree’s capstone module, The Engineering Project (T452), is core to achieving compliance with UK-SPEC, achieving accreditation with the professional institutions, and as such shares many features with project modules elsewhere. However, in the distance learning context, students often struggle with adopting a different approach to the work compared with a traditional module and understanding the nuances of what constitutes an ‘independent’ project. For example, students may initially have an ill-defined project question that is poorly aligned with the learning outcomes and assessment criteria. Another example relates to moving phases from 'reading' to 'doing', e.g. finding an electronic circuit to meet a purpose to designing a circuit to meet the project's aim. These issues are accentuated when students feel isolated or nervous seeking advice. This may be one of the reasons why, historically, this module has experienced low satisfaction rates averaging 52% over 22B-25B. Interestingly, retention to 25% mark is relatively high, typically 98%+, but then only 80% of students complete the module. Given that this is the last module before graduation, this requires investigation. The module team, based on feedback and insight, raise the scholarship question:

If students had the opportunity to engage in quality discussion with peers and tutors, prompted by informative seminars, would this help increase the module completion rate?

The module accommodates students into themes depending upon their 'qualifying' pre-requisite module, e.g. design. This may have an effect. However, this proposal addresses first the generic issues, helping students identify strategies for success, with the potential to explore specific themes in subsequent project proposals. The project would also provide further insight into why students don’t succeed in project-related modules by offering a pilot workshop run before the second assessment point. This would determine whether an intervention would provide students with the necessary support to succeed.