Panel - ill-structured problem solving in engineering education

There is a gap between the problems our students typically encounter in their education and the problems they are likely to be asked to solve in their future employments. It is convenient in education, both in specification and assessment, to provide fairly well- structured problems, and many instructors view using such problems as a way to manage the learning process. However, real-world problems are typically ill-structured and we argue that using only well-structured problems as learning examples does not prepare our students for the problems they will encounter in their professional life. Preparing students for dealing with ill-structured, or open ended, problems is an educational challenge involving critical thinking skills, which most instructors and curriculum designers view as an important goal of the learning process. This panel is designed to address issues of open or ill-structured problems from learning aspects. The panel will also cover concrete examples to inspire education designers preparing students for their future careers by improving their problem solving capabilities through use of ill-structured problems as learning examples.