The Future of Education

Student’s journey through the engineering educational program is academically demanding and along the way the student is required to develop professional interpersonal abilities. To promote student‘s positive journey, the engineering program at Reykjavik University (RU) implemented an intense two-day event called Disaster Days, occurring normally in the fourth or fifth week into the first semester. In this event students are challenged with a simulated disastrous situation where they have to face a sudden complex event that must be tackled in a single day. In this study we used interviews to ascertained to what extent the event affected the student´s journey through the engineering program. Emerging clearly from these semi-structured interviews with 15 students, is that the students like this brief shift from the traditional individualistic learning environment, they value being confronted with group work with new people, and that the event opens doors for lasting social network. In particular the event has proved fruitful for developing the student’s appreciation for group work via experiential learning. Based on these interviews one can confidently conclude that the event provides a good start for the student’s journey in the engineering program at RU and is arguably an important part of the curriculum to enhance interpersonal skills. The concept may be considered for adaption at other programs. The learning outcomes for Disaster Days are directly related to CDIO Standards 7 and 8 and connected to CDIO Syllabi 2 and 3

Keywords: Students’ journey, interpersonal skills, group work, integrated learning, students’ well-being, experiential learning.

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