K-WIDE: Synthesizing the Entrepreneurial Mindset and Engineering Design

Charles Kim; Joe Tranquillo

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Conference: 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Publication Date: June 15, 2014
Start Date: June 15, 2014
End Date: June 18, 2014
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Design in Engineering Education Division Poster Session
Tagged Division: Design in Engineering Education
Page Count: 24
Page Numbers: 24.837.1 - 24.837.24
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--20728
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/20728
Download Count: 1741

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Paper Authors

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Charles Kim Bucknell University

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Charles Kim is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Bucknell University. He received Ph.D. and M.S.E. degrees from the University of Michigan and B.S. from Caltech. Prof. Kim teaches courses in design and innovation and is currently director of the Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship, Applications, and Systems program at Bucknell.

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biography

Joe Tranquillo Bucknell University

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Joe Tranquillo teaches at Bucknell University, offering courses in signals and systems, neural and cardiac electrophysiology, instrumentation and medical device design. He has published widely on electrical dynamics in the heart and brain, biomedical computing, engineering design and engineering education.

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Abstract

The KEEN Winter Interdisciplinary Design Experience - An extra-curricular experiment in immersive design In January 2012, we offered the KEEN Winter Interdisciplinary Design Experience (K-WIDE)to 23 first and second year engineering students. Students from 5 engineering disciplines worked for130 hours over 10 days before the spring semester for no pay and no credit. The immersive, hands-on,design-build experience strongly emphasized systems thinking, opportunity recognition, problemidentification, and teaming. In end-of-program evaluations, students described K-WIDE’s visceralimpact particularly with regard to learning to fail forward. Alumni continue to tell stories from theirexperience in interviews, presentations before alumni, and recruitment of future K-WIDE participants.Rather than describing the specific content of K-WIDE, the purpose of this work is to highlight threepedagogical techniques that were used: 1) Experiencing design, 2) Immersion and 3) Critical reflection. Students were led through exercises that highlighted actions within the design process but theprocess itself was never formally presented. Instead students considered their actions from variouslevels, ranging from the 5 foot technical view to the 50,000 foot view of impact. Doing so helpedstudents to focus on both technical and non-technical issues including social impact, market demand,and sustainability. Furthermore, the 5-50,000 foot paradigm drove students to a greater awareness ofwhy their products were important, whom their products would serve, and what their products woulddo without jumping first to how their designs would work or what features they would have. As an immersive program, K-WIDE avoided scheduling conflicts with typical semesteractivities. Immersion in K-WIDE required complete engagement for success. We observed thatstudents readily created strong emotional connections with projects, teammates, and content.Participants felt a strong sense of community. The immersive experience facilitated tangible failure, anew phenomenon for many participants. Students learned the value and practice of failing forward as weencouraged them to assume a completely new growth mindset. It was important for students to process concrete experiences through critical reflection. Wedesigned K-WIDE with specific scheduled times for written and oral reflection, in both individual andteam settings. In one exercise, we asked students to map out the design process they had followed.What we received was far from the traditional textbook version but instead communicated design as anetwork. Drawings captured traditional design actions, but most also included those that are oftendifficult to integrate into an academic/educational experience - economics, markets, ethics,environmental concerns, socio-cultural impact and political/regulatory concerns. These elements aroseorganically from the experience in the absence of a formal description of the design process. This experiment was performed in an extra-curricular program and only informal assessmentwas gathered. We will offer the program in January 2014 and will conduct formal assessment that willappear in the final paper. The goal of presenting our findings, however, is to stimulate others to try it aswell, perhaps in low-risk situations at first. Together we hope to explore the pedagogical techniques forteaching design in a more holistic and coherent way.

Citation
Format

Kim, C., & Tranquillo, J. (2014, June), K-WIDE: Synthesizing the Entrepreneurial Mindset and Engineering Design Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--20728

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                   The  KEEN  Winter  Interdisciplinary  Design  Experience  -                    An  extra-curricular  experiment  in  immersive  design          In  January  2012,  we  offered  the  KEEN  Winter  Interdisciplinary  Design  Experience  (K-WIDE)to  23  first  and  second  year  engineering  students.  Students  from  5  engineering  disciplines  worked  for130  hours  over  10  days  before  the  spring  semester  for  no  pay  and  no  credit.  The  immersive,  hands-on,design-build  experience  strongly  emphasized  systems  thinking,  opportunity  recognition,  problemidentification,  and  teaming.  In  end-of-program  evaluations,  students  described  K-WIDE’s  visceralimpact  particularly  with  regard  to  learning  to  fail  forward.  Alumni  continue  to  tell  stories  from  theirexperience  in  interviews,  presentations  before  alumni,  and  recruitment  of  future  K-WIDE  participants.Rather  than  describing  the  specific  content  of  K-WIDE,  the  purpose  of  this  work  is  to  highlight  threepedagogical  techniques  that  were  used:  1)  Experiencing  design,  2)  Immersion  and  3)  Critical  reflection.          Students  were  led  through  exercises  that  highlighted  actions  within  the  design  process  but  theprocess  itself  was  never  formally  presented.  Instead  students  considered  their  actions  from  variouslevels,  ranging  from  the  5  foot  technical  view  to  the  50,000  foot  view  of  impact.  Doing  so  helpedstudents  to  focus  on  both  technical  and  non-technical  issues  including  social  impact,  market  demand,and  sustainability.  Furthermore,  the  5-50,000  foot  paradigm  drove  students  to  a  greater  awareness  ofwhy  their  products  were  important,  whom  their  products  would  serve,  and  what  their  products  woulddo  without  jumping  first  to  how  their  designs  would  work  or  what  features  they  would  have.         As  an  immersive  program,  K-WIDE  avoided  scheduling  conflicts  with  typical  semesteractivities.  Immersion  in  K-WIDE  required  complete  engagement  for  success.  We  observed  thatstudents  readily  created  strong  emotional  connections  with  projects,  teammates,  and  content.Participants  felt  a  strong  sense  of  community.  The  immersive  experience  facilitated  tangible  failure,  anew  phenomenon  for  many  participants.  Students  learned  the  value  and  practice  of  failing  forward  as  weencouraged  them  to  assume  a  completely  new  growth  mindset.        It  was  important  for  students  to  process  concrete  experiences  through  critical  reflection.    Wedesigned  K-WIDE  with  specific  scheduled  times  for  written  and  oral  reflection,  in  both  individual  andteam  settings.  In  one  exercise,  we  asked  students  to  map  out  the  design  process  they  had  followed.What  we  received  was  far  from  the  traditional  textbook  version  but  instead  communicated  design  as  anetwork.    Drawings  captured  traditional  design  actions,  but  most  also  included  those  that  are  oftendifficult  to  integrate  into  an  academic/educational  experience  -  economics,  markets,  ethics,environmental  concerns,  socio-cultural  impact  and  political/regulatory  concerns.  These  elements  aroseorganically  from  the  experience  in  the  absence  of  a  formal  description  of  the  design  process.        This  experiment  was  performed  in  an  extra-curricular  program  and  only  informal  assessmentwas  gathered.  We  will  offer  the  program  in  January  2014  and  will  conduct  formal  assessment  that  willappear  in  the  final  paper.  The  goal  of  presenting  our  findings,  however,  is  to  stimulate  others  to  try  it  aswell,  perhaps  in  low-risk  situations  at  first.  Together  we  hope  to  explore  the  pedagogical  techniques  forteaching  design  in  a  more  holistic  and  coherent  way.
AU  - Charles Kim
AU  - Joe Tranquillo
CY  - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA  - 2014/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - K-WIDE: Synthesizing the Entrepreneurial Mindset and Engineering Design
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/20728
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--20728
ER  -