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Session 1308

Interdisciplinary Team Projects With Marketing Students To Improve Engineering Capstone Experience

R.M. Seymour, Kim McKeage, Darrell W. Donahue, Deborah Skinner and Tom Christensen University of Maine

Abstract

Marketing and bio-resource engineering faculty developed an interdisciplinary cross-course project for their senior students at the University of Maine. Marketing and bio-resource engineering senior level courses included the interdisciplinary project to provide students the experience of working on multidisciplinary teams. The project required the marketing and engineering students to work together on development of a product or service marketing plan directly related to an engineering capstone design project. During the first two years of implementation, the project has evolved towards a more cooperative learning format that has improved the development of the students’ team building skills and their appreciation for a multidisciplinary perspective. Project evaluations show that the benefits of the multidisciplinary project have been apparent to most of the student participants.

Introduction

Engineering education is adapting to the new constraints of manufacturing and business needs. New ABET 2000 criteria are emphasizing new kinds of capabilities such as teamwork skills for engineering students. Under the new criteria, students must learn to work in multi-disciplinary teams, to stay abreast of current issues and to be aware of the impact on society and culture of engineered solutions. Although these ABET requirements will be met in various formats by different institutions, there is a consensus that these skills are necessary to create an engineering graduate prepared for today’s workplace.

In response to the new emphasis on the teamwork approach that manufacturers are currently using and developing, faculty in marketing and bio-resource engineering at the University of Maine created an interdisciplinary cross-course project for their students. Two separate senior level courses included the interdisciplinary project to provide the students the experience of working on multidisciplinary teams.

With the joint project, engineering and marketing students work together on interdisciplinary teams to develop marketing plans for the design projects of the engineering students. The students gain the perspective of another discipline, work in a team atmosphere and experience the synergy that comes from bringing diverse viewpoints to a central theme. The marketing students experience, first hand, how designs evolve and change, and how they must deal with product

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Christensen, T., & Seymour, R. M., & McKeage, K., & Skinner, D., & Donahue, D. (1999, June), Interdisciplinary Team Projects With Marketing Students To Improve Engineering Capstone Experience Paper presented at 1999 Annual Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina. 10.18260/1-2--7775