Impact of Service Learning Projects on Student Self-Assessment of AICTE Outcomes Achievement

In this paper, we report on students’ self-assessment of the impact of engagement in various Service-Learning (SL) projects, specifically focused on relevant All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) engineering education outcomes. We report on the self-assessment by undergraduate students who had and didn’t have projects. The assessment spans students across multiple years in the Masters of Technology Environmental Engineering (MTEE) program and covers a range of projects, including water quality assessment, water audits in institutions, and water policy formulation. Students who participated in the SL projects were surveyed on the impact of their participation in these projects on the achievement of selected AICTE engineering education outcomes. The results demonstrated that student self-assessment of the achievement of outcomes showed a significant increase in attainment levels, as well as in the number of students attaining higher levels through their participation in SL projects. This was the case for undergraduate students who participated in some SL projects and MTEE graduate students who were required to engage in the various real projects that the institution took on. The data broadly demonstrates that student’s own assessment of the enhancement of their achievement of AICTE learning outcomes affirms the relevance and value of service-learning and project-based learning. This is an additional study that shows the tremendous educational benefits of incorporating SL into engineering curricula.