manufacturing technology, product design, and engineering economics. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Illinois and holds memberships in SPE and ASEE. Page 15.134.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 Alumni Perceptions of Project Management InstructionAbstractAfter teaching a project-oriented capstone course several semesters, the author observed someteams failed to provide quality solutions for their semester-long, team-based project. The rootcause appeared to be poor project management skills. This prompted the author to considerasking alumni, who have demonstrated success leading teams in their
to design an effective interdisciplinary course or project. Thecollaborative experience model for construction undergraduates has been initiated to promotecollaboration between architecture and construction management students2. The cooperativemodel is important to promote interaction between design and building education, and to developother multidisciplinary approaches for integrating pedagogical models in many discipline-specific topics.Many efforts have been made on design engineering capstone courses3-5. For example, Page 15.997.2integrating senior capstone courses using different pedagogical strategies have been designed
. Page 15.198.2© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 Assessing Curriculum Improvement through Senior ProjectsAbstractSenior project and/or capstone design courses are intended to provide a culminating designexperience for students and to demonstrate their understanding of engineering knowledge andtheir ability to apply that knowledge to practical problems. It is expected that the quality andattributes of students’ senior design projects can be used as a good measure of determining howwell the curriculum prepares students to engage in engineering design as well as a measure offaculty teaching and student learning. This paper reports the results of a study designed to assesswhether the new computer engineering curriculum
psychrometrics in cooling units-understanding the implications involved in converting salt water into freshwaterWith the goal of encouraging creativity the performance of each design was minimallyweighted in the grading and the design aspect was completely open-ended. Theinstructor was available for questions and to help recognize potential issues but refrainedfrom offering suggestions during the design phase. As heat transfer or fluid mechanicscourses typically follow thermodynamics the project was not intended to be a capstone,but did provide valuable experience from which a student could build from in a futuresenior design project. The project also provided an opportunity to present a qualitative
-recipient the NEA’s Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, the Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning; the NSPE’s Educational Excellence Award.Steve Chenoweth, Rose Hulman Institute Of Technology Steve Chenoweth is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. His principle areas of work relate to the design of complex systems and also these systems’ associated people concerns – such as how to get all the stakeholders in a large project to understand each another and the system being proposed. He was a visiting Fellow for EPICS in 2009-2010
forest. In this metaphor, an engineer“tree” can have an infinite variety of branches and leaves, while still retaining a core trunkof design and project management expertise which distinguishes them as an engineer.While the paradigm may sound fanciful, the author uses an example course plan from theCanadian experience to illustrate how this different paradigm can be more receptive tostudent interests, and to industry needs yet still support the foundations of the profession.The proposed paradigm shows that, in accordance with the role of engineers in industry,the ability of design, project management and teamwork are central, while the specifictechnical specialities are supporting “branches”.IntroductionIt is an ongoing enterprise to continue to
AC 2010-1374: AN OUTLINE OF EDESIGNM. Reza Emami, University of Toronto M. Reza Emami, Ph.D. in robotics and mechatronics from the University of Toronto, worked in the industry as a project manager in 1997-2001. He is a professional engineer and has been a faculty member at U. Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies since 2001. He is currently the Director of Space Mechatronics group and Coordinator of the Aerospace and Design Laboratories at the University of Toronto.Michael G. Helander, University of Toronto Michael G. Helander received the B.A.Sc. in engineering science from the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, in 2007. He is currently working towards the M.A.Sc. in
by exposing the students to open ended projects that can develop theirdesign skills. From this we can conclude that the three main pedagogical components of asuccessful educational design experience are: the design skills, the design methods andthe design projects. On one hand, the individual design skills must be properly developedin the student prior to the project experience, making it an overwhelming challenge. Onthe other hand the design methodologies can be difficult to implement pedagogically,therefore the student struggles to learn, and even more important, to embrace suchmethodologies.We present an approach to design engineering teaching through four main steps: First,define the desired knowledge and skills to be acquired by the
these preconceptions. Consequently, student learningin design is hampered.The intent of this study was to identify preconceptions students bring to design and to framethem in terms of the cognitive literature. The preconceptions were explored using two sequentialfocus group discussions based on the questions, “What did you learn about design?” and “Whatdid you need to un-learn to do design?”The participants in this study had completed an intermediate level design class. The class usedmultiple design-build-test projects supported by lectures to teach design. The semester followingthis class, one design team was selected for the focus group discussions because they initiallydemonstrated low design ability but performed at a high level by the end
Practice basic design elements, (7 females; 39 (6 females; 22 principles, composition and males) males) typology to communicate visuallyCG01 by solving exercise problems and designing projects like identity logo, flyer, calendar, and postcard. Program: In Design 19 17 Design single and multiple- page (8 females; (6 females; 11 documents for business, advertising 11males) males) such as identities, flyers, brochures,CG02 forms
. Eisner, H., “Essentials of Project and Systems Engineering Management”, 3 rd Edition, John Wiley, 2008 5. U. S. Department of Defense (DoD), (2003), The Defense Acquisition System, Directive 5000.1, and Operation of the Defense Acquisition System, Instruction 5000.2, Washington, DC, May 12 6. Eisner, H. (2004), “New Systems Architecture Views”, paper presented at the 25th National Conference of the American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM), Alexandria, VA, October 20-23. 7. Eisner, H. “Managing Complex Systems – Thinking Outside the Box”, John Wiley, 2005 Page 15.738.9
Management Methodologies Support a Senior Project Research Course and Its AssessmentAbstractMotivated by required program learning outcomes and recommendations from a continuousimprovement plan focus group, Central Connecticut State University has uniquely organized itsmechanical engineering senior project design research class to include significant review ofDesign of Experiments (DOE) and Project Management (PM) methodologies. Both studies havebeen linked to computational software tools for students to use in their capstone experience. Theultimate goal of the class is a project design proposal in which researched backgroundinformation forms the introduction to a managed project plan which can include designedexperimentation within the
Competing at the IEEE Robotics Competitionsequence is composed of four one semester design courses. In addition, the design experienceculminates with a senior capstone design experience. Many of these projects are done with thesupport of local industry. Students prepare for outstanding professional leadership byparticipating in real-world projects undertaken by multidisciplinary teams using state-of-the-arttools and facilities. EE faculty are rewarded and required to engage students in activities tosupport the development of a clear understanding of engineering practice. 8 Figure 2: EE Design I Robot ProjectRole of Design CoursesAn important part of the EE Program’s project based curriculum is the design sequence
tool controls and gauging at GTE-Valenite Corp., started and managed the clinical engineering department at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, and was a research associate in radiology, nuclear medicine, and bio-mechanics at Wayne State University. Ken has taught at Lawrence Tech evening programs as an adjunct instructor since 1965. His senior projects class, where students generate project ideas, research, design, manufacture, and assess the market for inventive products is the capstone course. Cook also has enjoyed a long side career in magic finding his hobby very useful in teaching. A highlight for his students each year is the two-hour magic performance he offers as a congratulatory send
, and information search, in their projects. Ourgoal was to introduce skills and the extended features of these tools in various courses to makestudents more productive. These skills were originally introduced in capstone design courses.Some skills are now introduced in a sophomore level engineering design course and a freshmancourse. This paper introduces the issues and our approaches.1. IntroductionThe current generation of college students, who were born in 1990’s, grew up with personalcomputers, the Internet, and other digital “gadgets”. They use text messages, IM (instantmessage), e-mail, and cell phones to communicate with their peers every day. They also sharetheir lives by posting messages and uploading digital photos to social
systems, and less often digital controls or networks.More elaborate projects are done as a capstone experience. This paper is limited to non-capstoneprojects that include both hardware and software and are most frequently done in the sophomoreand junior year of a computer engineering program.Since such projects involve multiple areas within different disciplines, instructor's expectations,and work done over more than one year, it becomes difficult to assess how much of each topic agiven student has covered. This paper suggests a way to classify such projects using the topicsoutlined in the Computer Engineering Body of Knowledge (BOK) document produced in 2004by a joint task force of IEEE Computer Society and the ACM. A sample project is given
design class was created as a result of our ABET visit andfeedback in 1994. The capstone design class, at that time, was discipline-specific and with anarrow design context (i.e., a structure, foundation, water system, etc.) and failed to comply withthe CE program criteria. The department embraced the ABET feedback as a means to improvethe curriculum and student preparation for professional practice.The selected instructional strategy was to evolve a curriculum that develops young engineers Page 15.1300.3through more hands-on experiences with real world projects. The scope and depth of the course
capstone lab experimentfor the course that would incorporate various experimentation and instrumentation techniquesdeveloped throughout the semester. Moreover, this would create a link between this junior levellab and the thermal-fluids systems senior level lab which consists of similar type experiments.The experiment was developed through a design, build, and test (DBT) extracurricular projectgiven to the ME Program’s thermal-fluids sciences laboratory student worker. Developing thisexperiment as part of an extracurricular student project provided benefits to both the studentworker and the ME Program. The student worker was given an opportunity to develop importantproject management and technical engineering skills culminating in the writing of
ProjectsAbstractIn this paper, the use of impromptu design as a tool for introducing the engineering designprocess is discussed. In a typical impromptu design exercise, a simple design problem, capableof being completed in a short amount of time, is solved by teams of engineering students. Insolving the design task, the students organically progress through the engineering design process.This provides a unique opportunity to introduce beginning engineering students to the designprocess and to reinforce engineering design concepts for more senior students. This paperfocuses on the development of impromptu design projects, the use of this activity to introducethe engineering design process, and thoughts and observations gained over three years of usingthis
Technology Departments at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College since 1989. He joined the University of Cincinnati in 2008. Page 15.320.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 Controlling a Power Supply via the Internet Provides a Capstone Design Experience In Topics of Applied DesignAbstractThis paper focuses on using an off-the shelf Programmable Power Supply Kit to illustrate theconcepts required in successfully completing a junior level capstone project. The capstoneProgrammable Power Supply Project is structured to support course goals and
AC 2010-806: TOWARDS A MODEL OF TEACHING EXPERTISE IN CAPSTONEDESIGN: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A PRELIMINARY SURVEYINSTRUMENTJames Pembridge, Virginia TechMarie Paretti, Virginia Tech Page 15.1269.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 Towards a Model of Teaching Expertise in Capstone Design: Development and Validation of a Preliminary Survey InstrumentAbstractCapstone design courses seek to create a transitional environment between school and work byengaging students in collaborative, open-ended projects. These environments present a challengeto capstone faculty because the pedagogies used in such courses may differ significantly fromthose
Research Forum.The JagBot project included four CSEM students, two from CIS and two from ECE. Topicsincluded route planning, the creation of a sensor database (CIS), robot safety systems, and thecreation of navigation algorithms based on image processing (ECE).4.3.1.3 Senior design projectsThe students in the ECE department are expected to complete a senior capstone design project asa required part of their educational experience. The projects address design issues that thestudents are likely to encounter on their jobs, so they are required to specify multiple designapproaches, select a particular approach based on design principles, and implement thatapproach. The JagBot project was an excellent opportunity for senior design projects.Three ECE
manufacturing machinery and machinecomponent design. The second course in the sequence, ME404, is dedicated to learning andapplying the design process. ME404 covers the process from gathering customer requirementsto creating and implementing a test plan to ensure the product successfully meets thoserequirements. The students work through an in-class example based on an illumination deviceand develop their own solution to a storage container out of class. They are required to producea prototype of their container using skills from ME403. The final course, ME496, is dedicated toa senior group capstone project that the student selects. This course allows the student to applythe design process to a more complex problem and relies heavily on the
where a key aspect of the education we provide may prove irrelevant inthe near future? This paper studies the issue of outsourcing in the software engineeringeducational environment as a required component of a software engineering project.The first aspect presented is the outsourcing of a capstone project for the Bachelor of Science inSoftware Engineering Technology program to a developer or development team in an emergingeconomy. An operational process is presented showing how this was done to bring outsourcingas a viable activity for student projects. The second aspect examines application of the developedframework for outsourcing as a key component of developing large scale software systems. Thejunior project sequence is used as a test
297 Using Design, Build, Fly Projects to Provide Life Lessons in Engineering James Helbling, Department of Aeronautical Engineering Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, AZThis paper recounts the methods applied in a senior design course taught at Embry-RiddleAeronautical University (ERAU) in Prescott, Arizona. It will discuss the life lessons providedvia design, build, fly (DBF) projects which allow students to experience competition andcollaboration as part of the same year-long project.The capstone sequence at ERAU consists of Preliminary and Detail
employed in many steady state and transient heat transfer problems—infact, students have employed the modeling and programming techniques learned in this projectto other courses, including their Senior Capstone projects. Results of a student opinion survey,anecdotal data, and performance on the heat transfer portion of the Fundamentals of Engineeringexamination data are presented.I. Considerations in Designing a FDM ProjectWhen designing a problem appropriate for completion in a certain number of class meetings,certain educational and institutional constraints had to be considered. As opposed to the inite-element method (FEM), the inite-difference method (FDM) does not have a steep learningcurve, and was therefore ideal to provide students
skillsdeveloped in previous courses. Using this focus, concepts can be mapped from one course to thenext, can be reinforced, and can be developed in a richer and more applied context. The paperaddresses integration of a natural and related group of three topical areas found in manyengineering programs and identified as high priority skills by industry: statistics, engineeringeconomics and project management. Page 15.780.3Curriculum ContextThe basic course plan of the curricular integration implementation rests on the sequence ofcourses described in Figure 1. Although it is not always possible to predict the requirements ofthe capstone project, the
, along with proper reinforcement – onesuggestion is that several simple design problems precede the larger capstone design project [1].In addition, design and other engineering subjects are best learnt through hands on activelearning, e.g. project based learning [18, 19]. Therefore, the integration of impromptu designexercises into all aspects of the curriculum is motivated by the above research findings.2.1.2 Use of impromptu design contests in university classrooms: Aside from using impromptudesign contests in university courses as ice-breakers [6, 10, 20], little research has been carriedout on using impromptu design to achieve desired education outcomes. The current research inthis area has focused on the ability of impromptu design contests
knowledge and product skills most needed for America’s aerospace workforce [CDIO Standard 2] ≠ Developing laboratory and design-implement projects that help aerospace engineering programs integrate learning laboratory and project-based experiences throughout the undergraduate program, focusing on first-year and multidisciplinary capstone design- implement experiences. [CDIO Standards 4, 5, and 6]15,16 ≠ Developing a rigorous approach to assessing student learning and skills development, based on objective measures, and surveys of student self-confidence in learning. [CDIO Standard 11] System development as the context for aeronautical engineering education Context is the surroundings and environment that
/Senior Clinic as the capstone design experiences in their programs. While theChemical Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering departments haveseparate capstone design courses, these departments also recognize Junior/Senior Clinicas a course that well reflects engineering practice. Consequently Junior/Senior Clinicfigures prominently in the assessment efforts of all four programs. As noted in theprevious section, the Junior/Senior Clinic final reports were included in the portfolios ofstudent work that were reviewed at the end of every year. While the department obtainedvaluable data from the portfolio evaluation, an inefficiency in the process was alsoevident: each paper was being read by the project supervisor(s), who assigned a