Final undergraduate project in engineering: Towards more efficient and effective tutorials

The paper presents strategies for improving the quality of student learning in the context of the final undergraduate project in mechanical engineering. Special attention is paid to particular situations where the lecturer is faced with the problem of supervising a number of individual projects at a time. An action research project has been conducted for a period of one academic year, and the outcomes of change in practice have been assessed on a batch of seven student projects. The results obtained show that a deep approach to learning can be fostered in students by a careful selection of project topics, together with a good balance of group and individual tutorials which can stimulate significant peer interaction. One additional positive aspect of the implemented approach is the more efficient way of managing the time of academic staff without interfering with effective learning.