Thriving through trials and tribulations : the impact of the ‘ Grand Challenge ’ on engineering student resilience skills

Resilience is considered of significant importance for student attainment and work-readiness. This study investigated the impact of Grand Challenge (GC) – an industry-based learning assessment for 1st and 2nd year Engineering students – on student resilience. Resilience scores and psychological distress were measured before and after the GC through questionnaires presented to students. Focus groups were conducted to assess GC's effect on student resilience qualitatively. Resilience scores in the questionnaires decreased slightly after GC, possibly due to less students completing the post-GC questionnaire. Interestingly, when discussing GC in the focus groups, students did feel GC helped them develop their resilience and understood the impact of resilience on their future career. Overall, the findings help establish GC as a challenge-based learning (CBL) intervention and the extent to which such CBL assessments may affect student resilience skills. The study provides the groundwork for future resilience training and assessment in higher engineering education through CBL events.