Design Swapping as a Method to Improve Design Documentation

Shawn S. Jordan; Odesma Onika Dalrymple; Nielsen L. Pereira; Yacob Astatke; Jerry-Daryl Fletcher

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: June 10, 2012
Start Date: June 10, 2012
End Date: June 13, 2012
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: The Best of Design in Engineering
Tagged Division: Design in Engineering Education
Page Count: 13
Page Numbers: 25.402.1 - 25.402.13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--21160
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/21160
Download Count: 359

Yacob Astatke completed both his doctorate of engineering and B.S.E.E. degrees from Morgan State University (MSU) and his M.S.E.E. from Johns Hopkins University. He has been a full time faculty member in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at MSU since Aug. 1994 and currently serves as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. He teaches courses in both analog and digital electronic circuit design and instrumentation. Astatke has more than 10 years’ experience in the development and delivery of synchronous and asynchronous web-based ECE courses in the USA and abroad. He is the recipient of the 2012 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

visit author page

author page

Jerry-Daryl Fletcher Morgan State University

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Design Swapping as a Method to Improve Design Documentation Design educators are often challenged with motivating students to generate detaileddesign documentation and provide constructive feedback to peers. However, due to the limitedscope of class design projects and lack of real-world industry experience, student understandingof the necessity of clear design communication is often lacking. Strict grading of designdocumentation and frequent instructor feedback can improve the quality of documentation, butdoes not help students experientially understand its importance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using “design swapping”to improve both the quality of design documentation and the quantity of discussion and feedbackamong teams during design reviews. Design swapping is the notion of having student teamsswap designs shortly after a design review such that they construct another team’s design. Itbetter simulates real-world engineering by separating design and manufacturing, in addition topreparing students for outsourcing environments. This study took place in three versions of 1-week Rube Goldberg engineering designsummer camps for middle and high school students. Rube Goldberg machines are chain-reaction devices that complete a simple task, such as popping a balloon, in overly complex ways.Students participated in a rigorous engineering design exercise in which they designed RubeGoldberg machines, participated in design reviews, swapped designs among teams, and finallybuilt another team’s design while communicating with the designing team as required. Version1 had 16 students working in 5 teams in the same site. Version 2 had 36 students working in10 teams at two different sites in the USA. Version 3 had 57 students working in 15 teamsacross two sites in the USA and one in Trinidad. Teams used face-to-face communication,videoconferencing tools, and web-based collaborative word processing tools for communication.In Version 1, teams were not told prior to the design review that they would swap designs. InVersions 2 and 3, teams were told just prior to the design review that they would swap designs. The primary research question was, how does design swapping affect the quality ofdesign documentation and quantity of discussion during design reviews? A design-basedresearch methodological framework was used to design an effective learning environment whileconducting research in the environment. The data collected included daily beginning and end ofday reflective essays, design review reflective essays, design artifacts, design review videos, andvideos of post-design review discourse. Results indicate that the quality of design artifacts was superior when students knew priorto the design review that they would be building another team’s design. In addition, the quantityof discourse increased significantly when students were told they would be swapping designsprior to the design review. These results can help to inform design process structure for facultyteaching design to undergraduates or secondary students, in addition to those wishing to simulateindustry outsourcing and separate design and manufacturing roles.

Citation
Format

Jordan, S. S., & Dalrymple, O. O., & Pereira, N. L., & Astatke, Y., & Fletcher, J. (2012, June), Design Swapping as a Method to Improve Design Documentation Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21160

TY - CPAPER
AB - Design Swapping as a Method to Improve Design Documentation Design educators are often challenged with motivating students to generate detaileddesign documentation and provide constructive feedback to peers. However, due to the limitedscope of class design projects and lack of real-world industry experience, student understandingof the necessity of clear design communication is often lacking. Strict grading of designdocumentation and frequent instructor feedback can improve the quality of documentation, butdoes not help students experientially understand its importance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using “design swapping”to improve both the quality of design documentation and the quantity of discussion and feedbackamong teams during design reviews. Design swapping is the notion of having student teamsswap designs shortly after a design review such that they construct another team’s design. Itbetter simulates real-world engineering by separating design and manufacturing, in addition topreparing students for outsourcing environments. This study took place in three versions of 1-week Rube Goldberg engineering designsummer camps for middle and high school students. Rube Goldberg machines are chain-reaction devices that complete a simple task, such as popping a balloon, in overly complex ways.Students participated in a rigorous engineering design exercise in which they designed RubeGoldberg machines, participated in design reviews, swapped designs among teams, and finallybuilt another team’s design while communicating with the designing team as required. Version1 had 16 students working in 5 teams in the same site. Version 2 had 36 students working in10 teams at two different sites in the USA. Version 3 had 57 students working in 15 teamsacross two sites in the USA and one in Trinidad. Teams used face-to-face communication,videoconferencing tools, and web-based collaborative word processing tools for communication.In Version 1, teams were not told prior to the design review that they would swap designs. InVersions 2 and 3, teams were told just prior to the design review that they would swap designs. The primary research question was, how does design swapping affect the quality ofdesign documentation and quantity of discussion during design reviews? A design-basedresearch methodological framework was used to design an effective learning environment whileconducting research in the environment. The data collected included daily beginning and end ofday reflective essays, design review reflective essays, design artifacts, design review videos, andvideos of post-design review discourse. Results indicate that the quality of design artifacts was superior when students knew priorto the design review that they would be building another team’s design. In addition, the quantityof discourse increased significantly when students were told they would be swapping designsprior to the design review. These results can help to inform design process structure for facultyteaching design to undergraduates or secondary students, in addition to those wishing to simulateindustry outsourcing and separate design and manufacturing roles.
AU - Shawn S. Jordan
AU - Odesma Onika Dalrymple
AU - Nielsen L. Pereira
AU - Yacob Astatke
AU - Jerry-Daryl Fletcher
CY - San Antonio, Texas
DA - 2012/06/10
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Design Swapping as a Method to Improve Design Documentation
UR - https://peer.asee.org/21160
DO - 10.18260/1-2--21160
ER -