Abstract:
Students can validly comment on the quality of
teaching as they directly experience it and their comments
are important to evaluate the nature and quality of
educational interventions. The purpose of this paper is to
consider student voices regarding practical instruction
offered in a Mechanical Engineering laboratory, as this
may indicate student satisfaction with the course material.
An exploratory study is employed along with descriptive
statistics involving quantitative analysis of the collected
data. The target population is restricted to undergraduate
engineering students enrolled during 2014, who completed a
questionnaire survey using an electronic response system.
Results indicate that the students perceived the practical
experiments conducted in a laboratory to be enjoyable,
beneficial, challenging and relevant to the theory covered in
a classroom. These results further suggest that students are
being exposed to practical work that may contribute to the
development of practical skills and graduate attributes
required of students to add value to the socio-economic
development of South Africa.
