Prior to the defence, a link will be sent out via Outlook to the registered.

Engineering students’ Perspectives on the Learner Agency Development in an Intercultural PBL Context in Denmark.

The importance of learner agency has gained increasing recognition in engineering education recently due to its potential to influence individuals’ sense of professional identity and their decisions to continue their studies. It concerns the ability of learners to take ownership of their learning, make choices, set up goals, regulate their learning activities, and interact with their environment. Learner agency is aligned with the principles of PBL (problem- or project-based learning), which is a constructivist learning approach focusing on student-centered learning and active engagement. However, ongoing global and social challenges require future engineers not only to deal with problems within their own field of expertise, but also to develop intercultural competencies to address more complex social problems. It is thus necessary to delve deeper into how engineering students work within an intercultural PBL setting and explore how this setting contributes to their development of learner agency. This PhD project therefore aims to answer the research question of the ways to which engineering students’ learner agency is developed in an intercultural PBL setting.

The project builds on a exploratory mixed method approach consisting of a systematic review, qualitative interviews, and quantitative surveys. It broadens theoretical perspectives on learner agency and discusses the elements that might support its development in an intercultural PBL context. It is found that the learning process for engineering students has shifted from passively adapting to an intercultural PBL setting into proactively contribute to it through the process of building learner agency. Recommendations are provided for engineering students, educators, faculty staff, and institutions, and directions for future research into intercultural learning among engineering students are proposed.

Please email Dan Jiang dji@plan.aau.dk to get a copy of the thesis.