The Effect of Incorporation of Empowerment Projects on Student Performance in a Civil Engineering Course

In this paper, student empowerment was utilized as a tool in design, discovery, and learning.The primary objective of this study is to provide adequate learning experience for the student within the scope of the syllabus for the course.In this study, a courses repeated over four years (once every year) was considered.Students were directed to undertake engineering designs in specialized areas of transportation engineering and technology.Design topics applicable to these areas reported ranged from Flexible Pavements, Rigid Pavements, Asphalt Paving Technology, Pavement Rehabilitation, to Signalized Traffic Intersections.These topics covered not only conventional transportation systems but also intelligent transportation systems.The students' presentations were peer-graded.The significance of empowerment in design, discovery, and learning was extensively documented by applying appropriate statistical tests.Assessment, grading formula and results are tabulated.The best papers maintained the standards for publication at appropriate local, regional and or national conferences.