Collaboration with Industry in the Development and Assessment of a PBL Course

The automotive industry brings to market continuously improved electric and hybrid electric vehicles, and each new vehicle includes improved autonomous features. The automotive companies are constantly looking for specialists to design, implement and test the new features and technical solutions, including university graduates with competencies needed for current and future developments in the automotive industry. The approach taken at McMaster University in the School of Engineering Practice and Technology to prepare students who possess the competencies needed by the fast-evolving automotive industry is presented. The ways in which the expected competencies are conveyed from the technical experts engaged in the automotive industry to academia are shown. The Problem-Based Learning (PBL) teaching method that allows to deliver a constantly evolving course content related to the design and electrical and hybrid electric vehicles is presented. The collaboration between industry experts and academia through input in course development, annual course revisions, and assessment and feedback of final projects is described.