Effectiveness of Innovative Teaching and Learning Strategies for Engineering Students’ Performance

This study assesses the academic achievement of students in the Water and Wastewater Engineering course at the Centre of Studies, Civil Engineering, UiTM Cawangan Pulau Pinang. The survey was distributed to a cohort of Civil Engineering students, and data from 100 respondents were analysed. The data indicates that the Expeditionary Learning approach, specifically through field trips or site visits, received the highest score from 43 respondents. This suggests that it is the most effective teaching and learning strategy for the present generation of students. Conversely, the least preferred teaching and learning approach is online collaborative teaching, as it offers limited opportunities for contact and engagement between students and instructors and lacks hands-on activities and experiential learning. The result showed that the failure sudden decreased from 47.4% (72 students) drop to 2.7% (3 students) after implementation of various innovative strategies in Water and Wastewater Engineering course. The implementation of the innovative teaching and learning (T&L) approach has resulted in improved academic performance among students in the current semester (Oct 2023-Feb 2024). It has also led to a more positively skewed distribution in the grading score and a decrease in the percentage of students who failed, as compared to the conventional method used in the previous semester (Oct 2023-Feb 2023). Therefore, the suggested innovative approaches can be recommended as a powerful pedagogical approach to developing an interactive, attractive, and effective environment for the quality of education.