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Session 1398

Integrating Engineering Design with Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences Using Integrative Learning Blocks

Devdas Shetty, Donald Leone, Hisham Alnajjar, Saleh Keshawarz, Ladimer Nagurney and Leo T. Smith College of Engineering, University of Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut 06117 Tel: 860 768 4615, Fax: 860 768 5073

Abstract:

The current paper highlights the impact of the National Science Foundation sponsored curriculum project, which has helped the curriculum innovation by design integration throughout the curriculum. This has been achieved by (i) Redesign of the Freshman Engineering course sequence by incorporating Integrative Learning Blocks by involvement of faculty from engineering, mathematics, physics, humanities and social sciences. (ii) Creation of a new Engineering Design course at Sophomore Year and the development of Integrative Learning with a course on Ethics in the Profession (iii) Redesign of a Junior Year Design course with Integrated Learning with Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering. (iv) Partnership with industry in the creation of real-life engineering projects for all Senior Capstone projects.

The paper narrates the interdisciplinary focus taken by the project, involving faculty from engineering, mathematics, humanities, etc. It has promoted new teaching and learning paradigms and has emphasized team-building and collaborative learning in engineering, mathematics, sciences and humanities. In addition, it has already influenced the complete reshaping of the 4- year curriculum in the College of Engineering. Various parts of the project have addressed engineering curriculum reform from the freshman to the senior year based on a problem based collaborative learning approach. The clustering arrangement experimented in the courses could serve as a models for others to follow and could be transferable to most other institutions. By working on projects, the benefits of students taking greater responsibility for their own learning has resulted in a cultural change. The students have opportunity to work on well-rounded projects sponsored by outside agencies and industries. The project has a significant chance of sustained impact on engineering education.

1. Introduction

In the last decade, there had been several attempts by educational institutions to develop integrated curriculum (Denton1). Some of these have focussed on the integration of science and mathematics into problem solving and design, while others had placed emphasis on co-operative learning, assessment, and industry involvement (Everett, Imbrie, and Morgan2). Comprehensive

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright 2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Smith, L., & Alnajjar, H., & Leone, D., & Keshawarz, M. S., & Nagurney, L., & Shetty, D. (2001, June), Integrating Engineering Design With Humanities, Sciences And Social Sciences Using Integrative Learning Blocks Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9414