scholarly journals A “Lattice” Approach to Design Education: Bringing Real and Integrated Design Experience to the Classroom through Engineering Design Days

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 429-438
Author(s):  
Ada Hurst ◽  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Sanjeev Bedi
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
General Structure ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Engineering Science ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
The University ◽  
Lattice Approach

AbstractWhile design is fundamental to engineering practice, modern training in engineering design has almost exclusively moved to the classroom, providing students little exposure to holistic, real-world design experiences that are well-integrated with the rest of the academic curriculum. In this paper, we perform a short review of how the model of engineering education in Canada has evolved over the last two centuries, identify the current deficiencies in teaching design in engineering curricula, and review how Chairs in Design Engineering at various Canadian engineering schools have tackled this identified need. We then describe in detail how this problem is being addressed at the University of Waterloo through Engineering Design Days. This approach is presented as a design “lattice” around which other curriculum threads (math, natural sciences, engineering science, design etc.) can grow in an integrated way. Different Design Days examples from various engineering programs are described to illustrate the general structure. We conclude by assessing the program's impact and identifying opportunities for future development and assessment of the program's effectiveness.

scholarly journals CHALLENGES IN ENGINEERING DESIGN EDUCATION: VERTICAL AND LATERAL LEARNING

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksander Czekanski ◽  
Maher Al-Dojayli ◽  
Tom Lee
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Engineering Design Education ◽  
Advanced Analysis ◽  
Capstone Projects ◽  
Team Design

Engineering practice and design in particular have gone through several changes during the last two decades whether due to scientific achievements including the evolution in novel engineering materials, computational advancements, globalization and economic constraints as well as the strategic needs which are the drive for innovative engineering. All these factors have impacted and shaped to certain extent the educational system in North America and Canada in particular. Currently, high percentage of the engineering graduates would require extensive training in industry to be able to conduct reliable complex engineering designs supported by scientific verification and validation, understand the complete design stages and phases, and identify the economic and cultural impact on such designs. This task, however, faces great challenges without educational support in such vastly changing economy.Lots of attention has been devoted to engineering design education in the recent years to incorporate engineering design courses supported by team design projects and capstone projects. Nevertheless, the lack of integrated education system towards engineering design programs can undermine the benefits of such efforts. In this paper, observations and analysis of the challenges in engineering design are presented from both academic and industrial points of view. Furthermore, a proposed vertical and lateral engineering education program is discussed. This program is structured to cover every year of the engineering education curricula, which emphasizes on innovative thinking, design strategies, support from and integration with other technical engineering courses, the use of advanced analysis tools, team collaboration, management and leadership, multidisciplinary education and industrial involvement. Its courses have just commenced for freshmen engineering students at the newly launched Mechanical Engineering Department at the Lassonde School of Engineering, York University.

Concept Diagramming Software for Engineering Design Support: A Review and Synthesis of Studies

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan L. Eng ◽  
Rob H. Bracewell ◽  
P. John Clarkson
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Software Interfaces ◽  
The University

Engineering design thinking combines concepts from heterogeneous sources like personal experience, colleagues, digital and hardcopy media. Despite this challenge, modes of thinking across levels of abstraction through multi-dimensional (spatial) representations are widely neglected in digital support systems. This paper aims to summarize lessons learned through years of experience with software tools that augment this visio-spatial conceptual thinking. This work cuts across disciplines to provide a needed, coherent starting point for other researchers to examine complex outstanding issues on a class of promising support tools which have yet to gain widespread popularity. Three studies are used to provide specific examples across design phases, from conceptual design to embodiment. Each study also focuses on an exemplar of diagrammatic software: the University of Cambridge Design Rationale editor (DRed), the Institute for Human Machine Cognition’s (IHMC) CmapTools and the Open University’s Compendium hypermedia tool. This synthesis reiterates how hypermedia diagrams provide many unique, valuable functions while indicating important practical boundaries and limitations. Future research proposed includes: a need to build more diagrammatic literacy into engineering practice, the need for more detailed studies with experts in industry and specific directions for refining the hypermedia diagram software interfaces.

scholarly journals ENGINEERING DESIGN: THOUGHTS AND PERSPECTIVES

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Proulx
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Design Philosophy ◽  
Engineering Department ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Industrial Needs

According to the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board, all engineering programs in Canada must include a minimum of 15% of activities allocated to design. One can assume that these activities vary in content and scope between different programs. In this context, how can we define engineering design? Is there a recognized academic definition? Should our design goals be aligned with industrial needs and practice and if so, what should be the content of our design activities and how should they be structured? How is it possible to reach academic design goals given the limited resources available in our engineering schools? These are some of questions that will be addressed in this paper with the intent of better understanding the very important aspect of design’s engineering practice. Additional topics include: the change in design philosophy and approach resulting from a major program reform in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Université de Sherbrooke as well as the importance of industrial partnerships in design projects.

scholarly journals ENGCON: A PRE-CAPSTONE ENGINEERING DESIGN CONVENTION

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Eugene Li
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Internal Support ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Capstone Projects ◽  
The University ◽  
Important Activity ◽  
Capstone Design

The capstone design project is ubiquitous in engineering programs worldwide, and is seen by students as the single most important activity in their undergraduate careers. Staff and faculty at the University of Waterloo identified three issues with the current capstone process: students are unaware of industrial suppliers, they lack multi-disciplinary exposure, and they often struggle to identify "good" needs for their projects. The Engineering IDEAs Clinic, with support from instructors and staff from across Engineering, developed a conference for students to address these issues. EngCon – aimed at students in third/fourth year – brought students together with their peers from other programs, instructors from across the Faculty, and representatives from suppliers (both external industry, and internal support units) with the goal of improving their capstone projects. This paper presents the design and implementation of EngCon in both 2017 and 2018 with lessons learned from offering a large coordinated set of workshops aimed at students as they enter their capstone design projects.  

scholarly journals INNOVATIVE FINAL YEAR DESIGN PROJECT-INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE MAKES A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janaka Y. Ruwanpura ◽  
Andrew MacIver ◽  
Thomas Brown
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Successful Outcome ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Innovative Design ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
University Of Calgary ◽  
The University ◽  
University Industry

The Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Calgary is proud to be a leader in multi-disciplinary design education in Canada by bringing many facets to design education including internationalization. This design education produces many contributions to university, industry and society by developing innovative design solutions. This paper explains the novel approach adopted for the final year civil engineering design course in 2002/3 using the largest urban renewal project currently underway in Europe, which the students the opportunity to develop designs. The concept, structure, challenges, contributions and the successful outcome of the civil engineering design course are also explained in the paper.

Enhance Engineering Design Education in the Middle Years With Authentic Engineering Problems

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Lin Han ◽  
Kathleen Cook ◽  
Gregory Mason ◽  
Teodora Rutar Shuman
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Engineering Problem ◽  
Middle Years ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Engineering Design Education ◽  
Engineering Problems ◽  
Structured Problems ◽  
Thinking Process

Engineering design has been a requirement in the curriculum for engineering accreditation since the mid-90 s. This emphasis on engineering design has introduced significant changes to engineering curricula in freshmen and senior years with many engineering programs offering capstone (senior) and/or cornerstone (freshmen) design courses. Yet design-related content and experiences in the second and third years of the engineering curricula remain less common due to the heavy emphasis on fundamental engineering science courses in the middle years. This study investigated the possibility of developing design ability (thinking, process, and skills) in one of these courses. The method used was to incorporate real world, open-ended problem solving, specifically authentic engineering problem centered learning (AEPCL), into a junior-level heat transfer course. AEPCL uses authentic engineering problems (AEPs) as the backdrop to develop students' design abilities through solving open-ended, ill-structured problems. Results indicate that students who experienced AEPCL showed better design abilities than comparable students who did not experience AEPCL. Through AEPCL, students learn how to collect better information, make more reasonable assumptions, engage in better processes, and arrive at a more plausible, error-free, and high-quality solution in engineering design.

Design Experience Using Software Tools in Undergraduate Engineering Mechanics Courses

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijit Nagchaudhuri ◽  
Emin Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Software Tools ◽  
Engineering Science ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Mechanics ◽  
Solid Works ◽  
Design Experience

Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Materials form the basic sequence of engineering mechanics courses in engineering curricula. Traditionally, these courses have been designated as “engineering science” courses with significantly more emphasis in analysis to reinforce engineering fundamentals, and little to no importance to “engineering design”. With the outcome based approach to undergraduate engineering education adopted by Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology and the framework laid out by Engineering Criteria (EC 2000) significant reform efforts are underway to incorporate design experience throughout the engineering curricula. Most engineering programs across the nation have developed and implemented a freshman design course to introduce engineering design at the beginning of the college experience for engineering majors. To sustain the momentum, it therefore follows that subsequent courses should sustain the design emphasis in the freshman and sophomore years. Design, however, is a time consuming complex iterative process somewhat different from the convergent nature of engineering science. Modern software tools provide a time efficient and pedagogically effective way of integrating engineering design project with the engineering mechanics sequence without compromising the engineering science fundamentals. In this paper design projects that have been integrated in Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Material courses offered by the author using software tools such as Working Model, MD-Solids, Pro-Engineer, Solid-works etc. supplemented by computational tools such as MATLAB and EXCEL are outlined. Discussion based on student feedback and relevance to ABET outcomes is also forwarded.

scholarly journals COMPLEMENTARY USE OF DESIGN METHODOLOGIES IN EDUCATIONAL ENGINEERING DESIGN PROJECTS: A CASE STUDY

2013 ◽  
pp. 105-111
Author(s):  
KARL HAIN ◽  
CHRISTOPH RAPPL ◽  
STEPHAN REITBERGER ◽  
SIEGMUND HUBER
Keyword(s):  
Applied Sciences ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Design Methodologies ◽  
Engineering Design Education ◽  
University Of Applied Sciences ◽  
Educational Engineering ◽  
Supply Industry ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
The University

The challenge of a nowadays well-grounded engineering education is preparing industry ready graduates, that is, to provide students with the skills to master the complexity of products in terms of innovation, invention and problem solving combined with soft skills abilities. This addresses particularly the engineering design education, which in general should be mainly based on practical studies represented by engineering design projects. In order to supply industry with work-ready practitioners, the effectiveness and efficacy of design education respectively design projects is a crucial aspect. This article presents some findings of an efficient use of design methodologies and techniques when carrying through design projects in the faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics at the University of Applied Sciences, Deggendorf, Germany. Engineering design projects are compulsory for students within their curriculum. The projects aim at fostering and stimulating students creativity by means of a complementary use of design methodologies and techniques. By taking advantage of this approach the systematic generation of ideas in the course of a design project is presented, which eventually led to the development of an innovative product.

scholarly journals An Evaluation of Group Work in First-Year Engineering Design Education

2017 ◽  
pp. 145-168
Author(s):  
Stuart Palmer ◽  
Wayne Hall
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Engineering Application ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
First Year ◽  
Engineering Design Education

It is argued that ‘design' is an essential characteristic of engineering practice, and hence, an essential theme of engineering education. It is suggested that first-year design courses enhance commencing student motivation and retention, and introduce engineering application content and basic design experience early in the curriculum. The research literature indicates that engineering design practice is a deeply social process, with collaboration and group interactions required at almost every stage. This chapter documents the evaluation of the initial and subsequent second offerings of a first-year engineering design unit at Griffith University in Australia. The unit 1006ENG Design and Professional Skills aims to provide an introduction to engineering design and professional practice through a project-based approach to problem solving. The unit learning design incorporates student group work, and uses self-and-peer-assessment to incorporate aspects of the design process into the unit assessment and to provide a mechanism for individualization of student marks.

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