First Year Engineering Projects to Senior Capstone Design: Are Students Gaining Technical and Professional Skills?

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daria Kotys-Schwartz ◽  
Daniel Knight ◽  
Gary Pawlas
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Professional Skill ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
Engineering Projects ◽  
Capstone Design

Innovative curriculum reforms have been instituted at several universities and colleges with the intention of developing the technical competence and professional skills of engineering students. First Year Engineering Project (FYEP), or Freshman Design courses have been integrated into undergraduate engineering curricula across the country. Many of these courses provide students with hands-on engineering opportunities early in the curriculum. Senior Capstone Design (SCD) courses are ubiquitous in engineering programs, incorporating technical knowledge and real-world problem solving. Previous research has shown that project-driven classes like FYEP and SCD increase the professional and technical design skills of students. While research into first year and senior design skills development has been more robust, scant research investigating the transformation of skills between freshman design experiences and senior design experiences has been performed. This research project investigates the longitudinal technical and professional skill development of mechanical engineering students at the University of Colorado at Boulder. An overview of First-Year Engineering Projects and the mechanical engineering Senior Capstone Design project course is detailed. Technical and professional skill objectives are discussed within the paper. Pre and post skill surveys were utilized in both First-Year Engineering Projects and the Senior Capstone Design classes. Initial results indicate that student skills deteriorate between the end of the first-year and beginning of the senior year.

Collaboration of Technical Editing Students With Mechanical Engineering Seniors in a Capstone Design Course

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clinton Lanier ◽  
William S. Janna ◽  
John I. Hochstein
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Thermal Systems ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Engineering Consulting ◽  
Technical Editing ◽  
Capstone Design ◽  
Consulting Companies

An innovative capstone design course titled “Design of Fluid Thermal Systems,” involves groups of seniors working on various semester-long design projects. Groups are composed of 3 or 4 members that bid competitively on various projects. Once projects are awarded, freshmen enrolled in the “Introduction to Mechanical Engineering” course are assigned to work with the senior design teams. The senior teams (Engineering Consulting Companies) function like small consulting companies that employ co-operative education students; e.g., the freshmen. In Fall 2006, the Engineering Consulting Companies also worked with students enrolled in a Technical Editing (TE) course—“Writing and Editing in the Professions”—within the English Department. The TE students would be given reports or instructional manuals that the Mechanical Engineering (ME) students had to write as part of their capstone project, and the resulting editing of their documents would be done by these TE students. Subsequently, the ME students were given a survey and asked to comment on this experience. In addition, the TE students were also surveyed and asked to comment as well. It was concluded that the collaboration should continue for at least one more cycle, and that the TE students were more favorably inclined toward this collaboration than were the engineering students.

scholarly journals Mechanical Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Design Skills Throughout a Senior Design Course Sequence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Bracho Perez ◽  
Anilegna Nuñez Abreu ◽  
Ameen Khan ◽  
Luis Guardia ◽  
Indhira Hasbún ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Course Sequence ◽  
Design Skills

scholarly journals Design Integrated in the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum: Assessment of the Engineering Clinics

2007 ◽  
Vol 129 (7) ◽  
pp. 682-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Kadlowec ◽  
Krishnan Bhatia ◽  
Tirupathi R. Chandrupatla ◽  
John C. Chen ◽  
Eric Constans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Curriculum Assessment ◽  
Rowan University ◽  
Core Courses ◽  
Team Environment ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
The Impact

At Rowan University, design has been infused into the curriculum through an eight-semester course sequence called the Engineering Clinics. Through this experience, students learn the art and science of design in a multidisciplinary team environment and hone their design skills throughout their 4-year career. This paper describes the objectives of the clinics, types of projects, and how the clinics complement traditional core courses in the curriculum. Impacts and benefits of the clinics on students and faculty are discussed, including retention and graduate study rates comparing Rowan University mechanical engineering students to their peers nationally. An assessment of the clinics is presented based on survey data and accreditation objectives and outcomes. Survey data from students were assessed to determine levels of students’ satisfaction and confidence based on the clinics. Results of alumni and employer surveys also provide valuable feedback for assessing and improving the clinics as well as confirmation of the impact of clinics after graduation. Survey data are discussed along with challenges of the clinics at Rowan and adaptability of them at other institutions. Overall, the clinics are a positive and integrated design experience in the curriculum and assist students in achieving the program objectives.

Transformative Learning Opportunities Help Prepare Students for Their Future Careers

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Alexandra Scho¨nning
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Transformational Learning ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Graduate Degrees ◽  
Skills Learning ◽  
The University ◽  
Engineering Projects ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

A large percentage of the mechanical engineering students at the University of North Florida have been extensively exposed to transformative learning opportunities over the past five years. Through collaborative efforts with local industry and other institutions, the students have had the opportunity to utilize their engineering knowledge in real-world applications. Students engaged in these projects have improved several of their technical skills in, for example, computer-aided engineering, design, mechanical testing, and analysis. Nontechnical objectives of these projects include improving communication skills, learning how an engineering firm functions, and learning how to research relevant data. Technical and non-technical objectives were met by students working on engineering projects sponsored by partnering collaborators. The collaborators defined the engineering project and the students, under the supervision of faculty, carried out the project tasks. This paper discusses a number of different transformative learning opportunities for students; it discusses the educational objectives and skills developed for each project, and it describes how the students are better prepared for their future careers through their involvement with the program. Many of the students have found rewarding engineering careers and a few have continued to pursue graduate degrees. Furthermore, the paper discusses how the efforts of this program are aligned with the mission of the University in that it heavily emphasizes transformational learning opportunities for the whole university community.

Incorporation of Manufacturing Process Design Into the Senior Capstone Design Course

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas V. Gallagher ◽  
Ronald A. L. Rorrer
Keyword(s):  
Process Design ◽  
Manufacturing Process ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Cnc Machining ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Solid Models ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
The University ◽  
Capstone Design

At the University Colorado Denver, a manufacturing process design course was specifically created to raise the level of the as constructed senior design projects in the department. The manufacturing process design course creates a feed forward loop into the senior design course, while the senior design course generates a feedback loop into the process design course. Every student and student project has the opportunity to utilize CNC mills and lathes where appropriate. Specific emphasis is placed upon the interfaces from solid models to CAM models and subsequently the interface from CAM models to the machine tool. Often the construction of many senior design projects approaches the level of blacksmithing due to time constraints and lack of fabrication background. Obviously, most engineering students have neither the time nor the ability to become expert fabricators. However, the wide incorporation of CNC machining in the program allows, an opportunity to not only raise the quality of their prototypes, but also to immerse in the hands on experience of living with the ramifications of their own design decisions in manufacturing. Additionally, some of the art of fabrication is turned into the science of fabrication. The focus of this paper will be primarily on examining the effect of formal incorporation of the manufacturing process in the capstone design course.

CAD / ARDUINO INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOPS IN FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING PROJECT-BASED COURSE A WAY TO GET STUDENTS TO DESIGN AND BUILD HIGH QUALITY PROTOTYPES

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-François Méthot ◽  
Jean Brousseau
Keyword(s):  
Pulse Width Modulation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Starting Position ◽  
Dc Motors ◽  
Complex Projects ◽  
Cad Modelling ◽  
Design Skills

As educators, there are several challenges that we need to overcome during the first-year of our engineering programs. We need to integrate students into the world of engineering and introduce them on practical aspects. We have to connect them with basic notions in various engineering fields and complementary disciplines. We have to start developing their design skills and make them able to conduct design projects despite an undeveloped level of knowledge. We want to make them able to design and build high-quality prototypes. At UQAR, the solution goes through a multi-disciplinary project-based course offered at the first term. This course brings together students from mechanical, electrical and electromechanical engineering programs which makes possible to form teams of students with varied skills from different backgrounds (technical and natural sciences). In 2018, the proposed project was the production of a stand-alone and collaborative mobile platform. This platform or robot receives an order for an item, picks up and transports a shelf to the deposit station, delivers the item, returns the shelf to its place and returns to the starting position, all while avoiding obstacles on the way. To fulfill such an ambitious mandate, basic notions of CAD, electronics and programming are needed. Our innovation is the introduction of workshops at the beginning of the term. Workshops are an important part of our recipe to enable students to overcome the design challenge. The mechanical workshops include four sessions related to mechanical CAD (modelling, sheet metal, assembly and drawing) and 3D printing. Arduino workshops include three sessions on how to use the Arduino IDE programming environment and incorporate some programming notions. Specialized material was produced concerning the introduction to microcontrollers and the Arduino platform. A set of specialized parts was provided to the students. Several demonstration examples and activities have been produced on digital inputs and outputs, analog inputs, pulse width modulation outputs, ultrasonic distance sensing, DC motors and H-bridges, servomotors, tracking sensors lines, wireless communication modules, mini-keyboards and LCDs. The workshops support the projects directly and allow students to carry out relatively complex projects in the first year despite their limited engineering knowledge.  

scholarly journals CAPSTONE DESIGN PROJECTS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Hong ◽  
S. V. Hoa ◽  
N. Bhuiyan ◽  
K. Siddiqui ◽  
M. Pugh
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Industrial Engineering ◽  
Engineering Profession ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Concordia University ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Engineering Projects ◽  
Capstone Design

A new approach to conducting the capstone design project at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Concordia University has yielded significantly enhanced student learning experiences. The design, manufacture and test phases of the mechanical engineering projects, and the design, implementation, and test phases for the industrial engineering projects, provided students the opportunity to ‘practice their engineering profession’ and to instil technical and personal confidence through ‘hands-on’ realization and achievement of their project goals. This paper describes the new approach and the benefits that resulted.

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