Fostering Student Engagement Through Constructive Alignment: A Case of Course Development

Abstract

This paper presents a development process in the “Sustainable Cities” course, designed to address common challenges in large, hybrid university courses, such as diverse student needs, limited engagement, and maintaining quality at scale. Building on prior research in inclusive and active learning, the 2024–2025 implementation focused on aligning teaching - learning activities with intended learning outcomes (ILOs) while emphasizing the development of transferable skills. Pre-assessment survey, feedback and questionnaire were used to increase students’ awareness of their own learning styles and to gather insights to inform the ongoing course development. The results show improved student satisfaction, clearer understanding of tasks, and more active engagement, with slight improvement in performance and fewer dropouts. Compared with previous years, these findings suggest that even incremental, evidence-informed changes can enhance both learning and teaching. The paper also reflects on how the process contributed to the educator’s pedagogical growth, offering practical insight for others seeking to improve course design in engineering and related disciplines.