Fostering Creativity Through Engineering Projects

Summary Final year projects are a showcase for engineering students’ creativity. All final year engineering students at Swinburne University of Technology are required to spend part of their final semester of studies developing and completing various aspects of a major project. The theme of the project work is defined either by industrial sponsors or academic supervisors or by both. In addition, project guidelines are provided by the university for the final submission and completion of the work. The project may be any combination of research, design or developmental work. Within the constraints required by these factors, students’ creativity in their approach and execution of the project work may be both limited and expanded to simulate conditions experienced in a work environment. The culmination of the project work is in a written, oral and visual presentation to a professional audience. It is the students’ own creativity which determines not only the format of all three forms of presentations, but also their assessment which is again limited or enhanced by constraints of time and resources. Examples of project work creativity are presented which highlight and emphasize the broad spectrum which such creativity can encompass.