If the teaching of engineering is indeed the practice of engineering, then it stands to reason that the development of engineering curricula can be treated as an engineering design problem. In this paper, the authors apply the engineering design process to develop a list of courses, for a Mechanical Engineering Program, that conforms to the constraints of the Canadian system of engineering accreditation. For the purpose of this exercise, the following steps are used to define the engineering design process: identical and delimit the problem, establish the outline of the solution (and alternatives), break the problem into its constituent parts, analyze the parts, synthesize the parts into a final configuration, and document the solution. The limits and constraints on the solution are based on the criteria specified by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB), the syllabus specified by the Canadian Engineering Qualifications Board (CEQB), some common rules-of-thumb, and previously published work by the authors. By utilizing the engineering design process, schools of engineering and applied science can ensure that their curricula, at least at the level of the course specification, will conform to the CEAB and CEQB requirements. As a final exercise, variations on the curriculum are studied to analyze the possibility of introducing such additional elements as options and minors, expanded studies in the arts and humanities, and development of skills in additional languages.
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE STUDENT'S DESIGN PROCESS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TEACHING OF LATER PHASES OF THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS
