Lessons Learned from Student Satisfaction Surveys of CDIO Project Courses

Paper in proceeding, 2018

The paper reports on a study of student satisfaction in CDIO project courses. The aims are to investigate if there are statistically significant differences in levels and variation of student satisfaction metrics between CDIO project courses and “traditional” courses, and to identify possible causes for these differences. The study was carried out at Chalmers University of Technology and focused on courses in its mechanical, automation and industrial design engineering programs. In these programs, about 20 CDIO project courses and 235 traditional courses are offered each year. In the study, student satisfaction and some other quantified metrics collected from Chalmers’ course evaluation system are compared for the two groups of courses. Further, the paper examines in more detail selected CDIO project courses, with high and low student satisfaction ratings. The results of the study provide support for the hypothesis that there are significant differences in ratings. A number of causes are identified and discussed, including course leadership, perceived workload, assessment, and freedom to select task.