C D I O

Conceive
Design
Implement
Operate

That is the new initiative.
The latest buzz in the education circle.

I have attended the conferences and
the workshops.
It was very useful and I have definitely
added more tools to my teaching toolbox.

It is primarily about engaging students.
Trying to surface or inspire their desire to learn,
so that the learning would take place at a deeper level.
I reckon that many lecturers are already doing it one way or
the other, its just that it’s not formalized.

I tried out some of the suggested methods of letting
students mark their peers assignment.
It turned out pretty well.
They were given the assignment, together with the marksheet.
Therefore they knew upfront what was expected from them.
When they exchanged and marked their peers' assignment.
They learnt from the mistakes made. Hence the learning was re-enforced.
I still check through the markings,
just to ensure correctness and fairness.

From a Mechanical Product Design Engineer's point of view,
CDIO pretty much describes the entire product lifecycle.
Some are lucky to have experienced the full cycle for a single product,
but most would start the project at different phases of the cycle,
then hope onto another project.
So in general, it is a concept that I am at ease with.