Student Voices regarding Practical Work done in a Mechanical Engineering Laboratory reveals Satisfaction!

Abstract

Students can validly comment on the quality of teaching as they directly experience it and their comments are important to evaluate the nature and quality of educational interventions. The purpose of this paper is to consider student voices regarding practical instruction offered in a Mechanical Engineering laboratory, as this may indicate student satisfaction with the course material. An exploratory study is employed along with descriptive statistics involving quantitative analysis of the collected data. The target population is restricted to undergraduate engineering students enrolled during 2014, who completed a questionnaire survey using an electronic response system. Results indicate that the students perceived the practical experiments conducted in a laboratory to be enjoyable, beneficial, challenging and relevant to the theory covered in a classroom. These results further suggest that students are being exposed to practical work that may contribute to the development of practical skills and graduate attributes required of students to add value to the socio-economic development of South Africa.