Implementation of Open-Ended Laboratory (OEL) in Environmental Engineering Subject for Civil Engineering Diploma Program

An open-ended laboratory is where students are given the freedom to develop their own experiments, instead of merely following the already set guidelines from a lab manual or elsewhere. It will create the students to think critically and also out of the box. The students here have to devise their own strategies and back them with explanations, theory and logical justification. One of the subjects that implement OEL in Civil Engineering Diploma Program is Environmental Engineering subject. The students have to work in groups to come out with the laboratory reports and they also have to undergo 2 practical tests which have to be done individually. The laboratory reports were used to measure their teamwork and practical skills while the practical tests measure the psychomotor ability. Overall marks for OEL reports for this subject shows that all groups achieved 78% marks and above. As for practical tests marks indicate that practical test 1 is higher than practical test 2. It is proved that by implementing OEL, increased the independent learning amongst students by giving them a platform to be innovative and creative in designing and executing their own experiments.