scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF HOW CAPSTONE TEAMS DEFINE ENGINEERING DESIGN FAILURE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farrah Fayyaz
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Sustainable Design ◽  
Concordia University ◽  
Design Students ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Graduating Students ◽  
Capstone Design

There is a growing trend in engineering education to increase the societal awareness among theengineering graduates, so that the engineering solutions proposed by the engineers are more sustainable. To achieve this, one of the efforts in Concordia University is to ask capstone students to discuss and implement (wherever possible) ethical, legal, social, environmental, and entrepreneurial aspects of their capstone design. Students are given two lectures during the capstone year which provides them with prompts to identify and think beyond their personal biases and perceptions of the society. At the end of the term, each capstone team is asked to define engineering failure. The aim for this is for graduating students to have a well thought of idea of the engineering design failure before they enter the workplace. This article explains the two phases (lectures) of the capstone lectures related to the ethical, legal, societal, environmental, and entrepreneurial aspects of an engineering design. Additionally, the article aims to analyze the definitions of engineering failure submitted by the engineering students at the end of the capstone year to identify keywords and terms that the graduating engineering students attribute to success and failure of an engineering design. The objective of the paper is to open the discussion among engineering educators for incorporating ideas in their courses that can improve engineering students’ understanding of a sustainable design and assess the success of these strategies.

When Theater Comes to Engineering Design: Oh How Creative They Can Be

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferris M. Pfeiffer ◽  
Rachel E. Bauer ◽  
Steve Borgelt ◽  
Suzanne Burgoyne ◽  
Sheila Grant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Engineering Mathematics ◽  
Design Students ◽  
Creative Self ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Capstone Design

The creative process is fun, complex, and sometimes frustrating, but it is critical to the future of our nation and progress in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), as well as other fields. Thus, we set out to see if implementing methods of active learning typical to the theater department could impact the creativity of senior capstone design students in the bioengineering (BE) department. Senior bioengineering capstone design students were allowed to self-select into groups. Prior to the beginning of coursework, all students completed a validated survey measuring engineering design self-efficacy. The control and experimental groups both received standard instruction, but in addition the experimental group received 1 h per week of creativity training developed by a theater professor. Following the semester, the students again completed the self-efficacy survey. The surveys were examined to identify differences in the initial and final self-efficacy in the experimental and control groups over the course of the semester. An analysis of variance was used to compare the experimental and control groups with p < 0.05 considered significant. Students in the experimental group reported more than a twofold (4.8 (C) versus 10.9 (E)) increase of confidence. Additionally, students in the experimental group were more motivated and less anxious when engaging in engineering design following the semester of creativity instruction. The results of this pilot study indicate that there is a significant potential to improve engineering students' creative self-efficacy through the implementation of a “curriculum of creativity” which is developed using theater methods.

scholarly journals BENEFITS AND BARRIERS TO INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION FOR CAPSTONE DESIGN COURSE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narges Balouchestani Ali ◽  
Sijia Zhu ◽  
Kamran Behdinan
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
International Collaboration ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Problem Based Learning ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Capstone Design Courses ◽  
Capstone Design

In today’s world, engineering design is being conducted in a global environment. Recent research in engineering education shows that one of the competencies for engineering students is the ability to collaborate and communicate internationally. There is no better place in curricula than the 4th year design capstone to incorporate international experiences for students. University of Toronto has recently started international collaboration in capstone by partnering with universities in China, USA and Singapore. This is problem-based learning that allows students to experience collaboration with international partners. This paper explores the experiences of students in the international capstone design courses. We investigate the challenges, the risks, and the rewards associated with this international and cross cultural collaboration.

MNC-Sponsored Multidisciplinary Industrial-Strength Capstone Design Projects in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. 54-65
Author(s):  
Vincent Chang
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Multinational Corporation ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Internet Technology ◽  
Computer Engineering ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Industrial Strength ◽  
Capstone Design

With a growing need to reform Chinese higher engineering education, University of Michigan—Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute (JI) initiated multinational corporation-sponsored industrial-strength Capstone Design Projects (CDP) in 2011. Since 2011, JI has developed 96 corporate-sponsored CDPs since its inception, which include multinational corporation sponsors such as Covidien, Dover, GE, HP, Intel, NI, Philips, and Siemens. Of these projects, healthcare accounts for 27%, energy 24%, internet technology (IT) 22%, electronics 16%, and other industries 11%. This portfolio reflects the trends and needs in the industry, which provides opportunities for engineering students to develop their careers. An accumulated 480 JI students have been teamed up based on their individual backgrounds, specifically electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering. The corporate-sponsored rate grew from 0% in 2010 to 86% in 2014.

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.

Advancing Sustainable Engineering Practice Through Education and Undergraduate Research Projects

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radian Belu ◽  
Richard Chiou ◽  
Tzu-Liang (Bill) Tseng ◽  
Lucian Cioca
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Sustainable Design ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Practice Change ◽  
Green Design ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
Design Strategies

Major challenges such as energy, food, water, environment, health and so many more have never been more prominent than they are today. Engineers and educators, as problem solvers should be addressing these issues and challenges in sustainable ways. They have an enormous opportunity to help create a more sustainable world. Technology problems interconnecting sustainability challenges such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, environmental pollution, economic and social instability are becoming increasingly major concerns for mankind. However, the engineers and scientists have failed on large extend to fully address the sustainability issues. It was also found that engineering graduates do not possess necessary skills to tackle sustainability related problems. Engineering practice and education are changing as social expectations and conditions for engineering practice change too. Students have the responsibility and opportunity to continue improving our life while reducing or even reversing the negative impacts that our industrial society is having on the environment. Current engineering curricula are not equipping them to properly deal with these challenges due to little integration of sustainable and green design strategies and practice. Transforming higher education curricula for sustainable development is a tough challenge, dealing with the complexness of sustainability concepts and integration into engineering education. Teaching students the sustainability principles and equipping them with necessary tools help them to make better choices on materials and energy use, or design. These concepts and methods are still relatively new to engineering curriculum and are not an established practice for most of such programs. Meanwhile, today’s students have a strong desire to improve the world through their work, and sustainability connects with these interest and motivations. However, students’ hunger for knowledge often outstrips what is available in their courses and the experiences of their professors. Furthermore, to make sustainable design compelling to a wider base of engineering students, we need to craft sustainable design in terms of mainstream design problems that are important, cutting-edge, and achievable. Then we need to help them how to effectively deal with environmental and societal needs and constraints as part of their core design process. The paper highlights the process required for embedding sustainability and green design into our programs, curriculum design, implementation and impediments to surmount for sustainability and green design in engineering education. This was done through a project-based approach, developing three new courses and appropriate changes in a number of existing courses. The skill requirements were studied and finally the list of subjects, topics, teaching and learning methods are identified and discussed in this paper.

Teaching Design Methodologies Across Engineering Disciplines

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron J. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Colorado School ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Design Methodologies ◽  
Design Program ◽  
Mechanical Products ◽  
Capstone Design

The Colorado School of Mines (CSM) offers a combined capstone design experience for mechanical, civil, electrical and environmental engineering students. In a recent re-invention of our design curriculum, a new emphasis on design methodologies has been implemented. Many of these design methods have origins in the design of electro-mechanical products, and it is certainly in these areas where the most vibrant design communities seem to reside. Yet in a combined setting, analogous design processes appear to exist in a broader engineering design community. This paper describes the capstone design program at CSM, with a focus on the methods that we are teaching and how they translate between disciplines. The lessons learned in such a translation not only illuminate how engineering design may differ in other disciplines, but also may reveal new perspectives on mechanical design processes.

Implementing Creativity Evaluation Tools Into the Concept Selection Process in Engineering Education

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Starkey ◽  
Christopher A. Gosnell ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Selection Method ◽  
Concept Selection ◽  
Design Creativity ◽  
Design Students ◽  
Study Teams ◽  
Expert Ratings

In design research, creativity assessment methods have been studied to obtain quantitative measurements of design novelty and feasibility for use in the concept selection process. However, little research exists that studies the application and implementation of these tools by engineering students on grade-dependent class projects. In this study, teams of undergraduate engineering design students evaluated their own early product sketches using informal team discussions, a creativity scale and our Tool for Assessing Semantic Creativity (TASC) adjective selection method. The resulting evaluations were compared and contrasted with evaluations obtained from the widely adopted Shah Vargas-Hernandez and Smith (SVS) method and expert ratings. These findings demonstrate that our TASC adjective selection method of evaluating design creativity is tapping into similar constructs of creativity as informal team discussions and expert evaluations. They also indicate that the SVS method does not appear to be evaluating creativity as perceived by engineering design students or experts. The results of this study can be used to understand how students make decisions during the concept selection process and how tools can be developed or implemented in the classroom setting to aid in this process.

scholarly journals FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING DESIGN – GUELPH’S TEDDY BEAR WHEEL CHAIR EXPERIENCE

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren Stiver
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
First Year ◽  
Teddy Bear ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Wheel Chair ◽  
Do So

First year engineering design courses arenow common across Canadian engineering schools.These courses can be challenging to develop and deliver.They are often stuck in the chicken versus egg problem.Can I teach design with no engineering? Can I teachengineering with no design? How does one introducefour years of engineering education and an engineeringcareer in one course? How to do so across many or allengineering disciplines? How to do so in a foundationalmanner? Can it be done in a meaningful way? Can it beengaging and fun? A Teddy Bear Wheel Chair (TBWC)design project is the focal point of Guelph’s first yearengineering design course. The TBWC integratescomputers, mechanics, biomechanics (Teddy Bear style),environment, safety, sustainability, materials, costing,hands-on, perseverance, ethics and DESIGN. The TBWCparticipates in curling, sprinting and scoring goals. Theresult is a challenging and fun competition thatintroduces all of Guelph’s engineering students to theirengineering design careers. This paper and presentationwill share one instructor’s efforts to make all of this work.

Instructor approaches to creativity in engineering design education

2018 ◽  
Vol 233 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-402
Author(s):  
Yasemin Tekmen-Araci ◽  
Llewellyn Mann
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Training Methods ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Engineering Design Education ◽  
Fostering Creativity

Creativity is essential in the engineering design process. Researchers, academics, educators, and engineering organisations all agree that further improvement is necessary in training methods for fostering creativity in engineering education. Even though studies exist about how creativity should be taught in engineering education, there is still limited research about the challenges of practical implementation. To address this gap, an action research project has been conducted in two undergraduate Mechanical Engineering design subjects at a prominent university in Australia with the aim of enhancing creativity during the problem-solving process. The study shows the many challenges that arose when enhancing creativity in engineering design education, and the issues that surrounded this implementation. Although teaching creativity to engineering students is a challenge, this study illuminates the difficulties of convincing the engineering instructors to embed creativity in the subjects they teach. Overall, the study found that instructors' understandings and beliefs about creativity influence their teaching approach and what they value. These influences were around four main areas: the instructors' focus on the design product being produced, their educational backgrounds and training, the subjective nature of creativity and their beliefs about it, and the performance mindset of the instructors. These findings suggest that enhancing creativity among engineering students is not possible until the engineering educators and practitioners understand and value creativity practice.

The Effects of the Undergraduate Curriculum and Individual Differences on Student Innovation Capabilities

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trina C. Kershaw ◽  
Carolyn Conner Seepersad ◽  
Katja Hölttä-Otto ◽  
Paul T. Williams ◽  
Adam P. Young ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Individual Difference ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Undergraduate Curriculum ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Freshmen Students ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Graduating Students

Innovation is considered a key to competitiveness of the nation. In order to ensure that graduating students are equipped with innovation skills to meet this challenge, we must ensure that engineering curricula are enhancing students’ innovation capabilities. In this paper we investigate if the undergraduate engineering curriculum can have a significant positive effect on students’ innovation capabilities. In addition, we investigate if individual difference factors, such as engineering design self-efficacy and self-reported GPA, can be correlated with innovation capabilities. To test this, we assessed students’ solutions to specific open ended problems for their level of innovation, or more specifically, originality and technical feasibility. The experiments were replicated at two universities and with a variety of cohorts, including freshman students before and after an introductory engineering course and senior mechanical engineering students before and after a capstone course. We found that that students’ innovation capabilities were enhanced by the senior-level capstone course at both universities. Similar positive results can be found for the overall four year curriculum at both schools. While individual differences in academic performance and engineering design self-efficacy did not predict seniors’ performance, these individual difference factors did interact to influence originality in the freshmen students. At high levels of GPA, increased self-efficacy led to increased originality, but at low levels of GPA, increased self-efficacy led to lower originality scores. Results are discussed in relation to prior research and suggestions are made to track freshmen students to better train future engineers.

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