Problem Oriented Engineering in action: experience from the frontline of postgraduate education

Rapanotti, Lucia and Hall, Jon G. (2008). Problem Oriented Engineering in action: experience from the frontline of postgraduate education. Technical Report 2008/16; Department of Computing, The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.0001606f

Abstract

The paper reports on the early phases of a development project aimed at a highly innovative postgraduate research programme for the Open University, UK, a world leader in supported distance higher education. The new programme is a part-time MPhil to be delivered at a distance, supported by a blend of synchronous and asynchronous technologies. After a brief description of the project and the complexity of the task at hand, the paper discusses how Problem Oriented Engineering, an emergent engineering design framework , was adopted on the project, and its performance in this complex real-world setting. The outcome of the study will be of relevance to practitioners who wish to adopt the approach in tackling real-world development problems, as well as researchers who are striving to improve the framework for practical adoption.