lunch&LEARN: Students' Learning Through a Training Portfolio Approach

This study investigates the effectiveness of a 'training portfolio' model in developing essential transversal skills among engineering students engaged in project-based learning.

While project-based courses typically result in students focusing predominantly on the end product rather than the design process, this approach redirects attention to process-based learning goals and facilitates reflection on experiences.

Approximately 60 master's students at EPFL participated in a group project requiring regular process-focused reports culminating in a portfolio submission. Using a pre-post measurement design, we assessed self-efficacy across four project management dimensions: Planning, Risk Assessment, Ethical Sensitivity, and Interprofessional Communication.

Results demonstrated statistically significant improvements across all dimensions, with moderate effects in project planning and interprofessional communication, moderate to strong effects in ethical sensitivity, and strong effects in risk analysis. These findings suggest that the training portfolio model effectively promotes the development of transversal skills often overlooked in traditional project-based learning approaches, offering a pedagogically productive framework for engineering education.

Co authors: Helena Kovacs & Tamara Milosevic (Transversal Skills and Career Center), Roland Tormey (Teaching support Centre)