Author(s)

Zhiwen Huang ¹, Long Chen ¹, Xiaohui Jiang ¹, Jianmin Zhu ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China

Corresponding Author

Long Chen

ABSTRACT

The rapid development of intelligent manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and robotics has generated an urgent need for innovative engineers with interdisciplinary expertise. However, practical courses frequently suffer from insufficient alignment between learning objectives and industry requirements, a disconnect between instructional content and industrial practice, and limited diversity in teaching and assessment. Guided by outcome-based education (OBE), this study explores teaching reform in the robot innovation design practice course. First, intended learning outcomes are specified in relation to program educational objectives and enterprise needs, and explicit mappings are established between course objectives and industry competency requirements. Then, instructional content is reorganized around an engineering workflow comprising requirements analysis, conceptual design, system implementation, and presentation of project outcomes, resulting in a practical teaching framework driven by project tasks. Next, project-based learning, task-oriented instruction, teamwork, and ongoing guidance are integrated to strengthen student agency and encourage self-directed learning and collaborative innovation. Finally, a multidimensional assessment framework evaluates disciplinary knowledge, engineering practice, innovative design, teamwork, and communication of project outcomes, enabling learning to be monitored and assessed throughout the course. Teaching practice indicates that the OBE-based reform was associated with improvements in students' practical engineering skills, innovative design capabilities, and teamwork, together with a shift in emphasis from knowledge transmission toward competency development and learning outcome attainment. These findings may provide a reference for reforming robotics courses and comparable practical engineering courses.

KEYWORDS

Outcome-based education; teaching reform; Robot innovation design practice; Project-based learning

CITE THIS PAPER

Zhiwen Huang, Long Chen, Xiaohui Jiang, Jianmin Zhu. Exploration and Practice of OBE-enabled Teaching Reform: A Case Study of Robot Innovation Design Practice Course. Curriculum and Teaching Methodology (2026). Vol. 9, No. 5, 61-69. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/curtm.2026.090508.

REFERENCES

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