Conference Session

Systems Engineering Programs and Curricula

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joanna DeFranco, Pennsylvania State University; Colin Neill, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering Constituent Committee

our campus itwas determined that over 50% incorporated at least one student team assignment and for the twopracticum capstones in the engineering programs the entire student assessment rested upon acollaborative effort. In a survey of instructors at eight engineering schools Felder6 found that24% always assigned a group project while another 52% assigned them in some courses. Whilethere are pragmatic reasons for such teams (reduced grading load) their use is grounded in thereality of the engineering profession: the vast majority of graduates will spend their professionallives working in teams. Furthermore, there is evidence that if the team forms a cooperativelearning group, the learning of the individual team members is enhanced9,12.Despite