Students’ self-reported learning gains in higher engineering education

In higher engineering education, students’ learning outcomes are typically measured via tests and examinations. In that way, so it is claimed, students have reached the learning goals intended by the teachers. However, students’ learning experiences and perceived learning gains remain unclear. To gain insights into their perceived learning gains, thirteen students from a Dutch technical university were interviewed. This university is in the process of changing its curriculum from teacher-centered to student-centered approaches. The results show that students’ reported learning gains could be grouped into five different strands: (1) the disciplinary conceptual and procedural knowledge strand; (2) the general cognitive learning strand; (3) the affect, thought and learning strand; (4) the teamwork and communication strand; and (5) the entrepreneurial learning strand. Moreover, we nuanced these five strands with the help of the student interviews and the relevant literature. The findings of this study can be valuable and helpful for teachers and curriculum leaders for their course and curriculum design.