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Session 2793

Team- Based Engineering Design Course for Engineering Freshmen

Subhi M. Bazlamit

Department of Civil Engineering/Ohio Northern University

The curriculum at Ohio Northern University includes two introductory engineering courses for the incoming freshmen class. These courses are intended to introduce the basic analytical and problem solving skills to students through an actual team-based design experience. The students are introduced to the engineering approach to design and problem solving starting from defining a problem, gathering pertinent information, generating multiple solutions, selecting a feasible solution and verifying and implementing the final solution.

In the Fall Quarter, the freshmen class is enrolled in GE 101 course, Fundamentals of Engineering where students are introduced to engineering problems and basic computer skills involving MS Word and MS Excel. In the Winter Quarter, the students are enrolled in the GE 102, Problem Solving and Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) course. In this course, the students are normally divided into design teams and each team is charged with an engineering design problem. Design problems are those involving the design of a small device used to perform a certain function such as a produce launcher, a tool, or a foot-operated paper towel dispenser. Each team is expected to build a working model of their design in the workshop. Each team will submit a proposal and a project schedule identifying all work items needed to complete the design experience by the end of the quarter. Weekly written and oral progress reports are also required from each team. Students are also required to maintain a design folder in which all relevant correspondence, team meetings and design calculations are kept.

The design is normally constrained by size and cost and other considerations that may be applicable depending on the problem. This design experience allows students the opportunity to work in teams during their first year of enrollment. It also emphasizes the importance of graphical, written and oral communications in the engineering discipline.

This paper presents an overview of the process and attempts to document the associated observations from this team-based design experience.

Introduction

The engineering industry is very competitive in nature. Moreover, most engineering projects require the collaboration of many individuals 1 within the same engineering firm to address problems and formulate feasible solutions. This class addresses this nature of the engineering industry. It allows the freshmen students an opportunity to experience the engineering design process from writing proposals to construction of a working model.

“Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Bazlamit, S. (2003, June), Team Based Engineering Design Course For Engineering Freshmen Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--12494