Engineering departments across Vietnam’s Cao Thang Technical College (CTTC) collaborated to initiate a university-wide student “tower” contest based on HEEAP learning methods. The competition attracted more than 200 students across engineering departments, including mechanical, electrical and automation. The students were divided into 36 teams of four to five and underwent a preliminary competition to construct the highest tower in 30 minutes. Each team was given newspapers, glue, tape, scissors and colored paper to construct their towers, which were judged based on correct measurements. From there, 20 teams were chosen to participate in the final competition October 26, where four winning groups were selected.
Professor Thong Nguyen, who teaches manufacturing technology at CTTC, said the main objective was to introduce students across engineering disciplines to what the faculty learned attending HEEAP 2012 workshops.
“We wanted our students to improve their teamwork and soft skills through the contest,” said Nguyen, who is also the head of the school’s Department of Mechanical Manufacturing. Instructors believe the competition encouraged student creativity, confidence and coordination skills. Nguyen said more than 400 students came out to support their peers in the final round.
“In the contest, each group had its own ideas, but required close links between the team members,” said student contest winner Le Thi Thanh Hieu. Concurring, another student winner of the tower contest, Le Viet Cuong, said, “Through the contest, I found to work in a group how to use good communication skills. We [my team] always had the motto: ‘Play hard, enthusiastic and best.’ ”
CTTC currently employs active learning components in nine courses within the mechanical, electrical and electronics departments, consistent with its 2012 project proposal that aims to prepare CTTC post graduates with necessary skills for the global engineering workplace.
However, the contest was the first university-wide attempt at implementing HEEAP learning methods. With this success, CTTC administrators plan to host similar competitions to replicate what instructors have learned attending HEEAP workshops, in addition to training 12 technical faculty members in active learning techniques by January 2013.