Dr Masoud Shakiba of Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching and learning approach that provides students with skills to enhance their employability. In PBL, students can build their own project groups and work on real industry problems. They have an opportunity to engage, collaborate and communicate with stakeholders to identify and clarify a problem, propose a technical solution, analyse, design, implement and evaluate a project. Students apply the subject-related theoretical/methodological principles that they have learned throughout their programme of study into a practical project. This strengthens their learning as they get hands-on experience on the entire System Development Life
Cycle. This presentation will focus on the implementation and coordination of the capstone project at the Unitec- Te Pūkenga, School of Computing, Electrical and Applied Technology. The Bachelor of Computing Systems students in their final year of study work on a capstone project, delivering five milestones: pre-project arrangement, proposal, implementation, technical documentation, presentation, and demonstration. Throughout the semester, students attend a series of workshops to recap what they have learned in their previous courses and enhance their technical and soft skills. All projects have individual and group components. The stakeholders' Satisfaction Index is used for assessing individual group members' contributions. Industry and academic collaboration, working on real-world problems, workshops, mentorships, and simulation of the workplace environment have contributed to students' performance, employability, and overall satisfaction. The institutional course survey results showed improvement in overall students' satisfaction from 4.5 in semester 1, 2021, to
9.1 in semester 1, 2023 out of 10. Through this presentation, I will share my experience of how industry and academia can collaborate to help close the STEM skills shortage gap. I will promote the use of the capstone project as an authentic teaching and learning method and encourage the industry to engage more in this practice.

Biography:

Dr Masoud Shakiba is an assistant professor and Industry and Alumni Champion at the School of Computing, Electrical and Applied Technology, Unitec - Te Pūkenga, where he has been serving since 2021. With a passion for fostering collaboration between academia and industry, he also leads the Capstone Project in close partnership with industry stakeholders at Unitec. In 2018, Masoud founded TechTALK, an initiative that he leads with a dedicated team of volunteers to conduct seminars aimed at bridging the gap between academia and industry. The initiative has helped to address the STEM skill shortage gap in New Zealand. To date, TechTALK has successfully hosted over 100 eminent speakers, attracting a global audience of thousands from diverse backgrounds and locations. Dr Shakiba brings with him a wealth of teaching and research experience, having contributed to prestigious institutions such as Monash University, The University of Auckland, Massey University, Manukau Institute of Technology, Otago Polytechnic and more. An actively engaged professional, Masoud serves as the deputy chair at the IT Professionals NZ - Auckland Branch and holds esteemed positions on the industry advisory committees of Unitec Institute of Technology, Otago Polytechnic, Eastern Institute of Technology, and Future Skills in Auckland. His research interests span across cutting-edge fields like the Internet of Things, Smart Cities, RFID technology, Smart Agriculture, and Project-Based Learning/Value-Based Learning. As an avid researcher, he has made contributions to the academic community with multiple published papers in renowned journals and international conferences. Additionally, Masoud has been an integral part of several research projects and fund applications, both as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) and Principal Investigator.

Email:

Address:Auckland, New Zealand