Design Signatures in the Wild: Making the Invisible Visible (in First Year Engineering) WORKSHOP

Nicole Alexandra Batrouny; Daria A Kotys-Schwartz; Micah Lande

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Conference: 15th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience Conference (FYEE)
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Publication Date: July 28, 2024
Start Date: July 28, 2024
End Date: July 30, 2024
Page Count: 4
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--48587
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48587
Download Count: 42

Paper Authors

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Nicole Alexandra Batrouny Northeastern Univeristy

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Nicole Batrouny is an Assistant Teaching Professor of First Year Engineering at Northeastern University. Her engineering education research interests include novice engineering education (K12- first year), reflective engineering design process, metacognition, collaboration in engineering, and decision making.

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Daria A Kotys-Schwartz University of Colorado Boulder

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Daria Kotys-Schwartz is the Director of the Idea Forge—a flexible, cross-disciplinary design space at University of Colorado Boulder. She is also the Design Center Colorado Director of Undergraduate Programs and a Teaching Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Kotys-Schwartz has studied design teaching and learning in engineering education for 18+ years. Her work has focused on engineering student learning, retention, and student identity development within the context of engineering design. She is currently performing comparative studies between engineering education and professional design practices.

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Micah Lande South Dakota School of Mines and Technology orcid.org/0000-0003-4964-5654

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Micah Lande, PhD is an Assistant Professor and E.R. Stensaas Chair for Engineering Education in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Dr. Lande directs the Holistic Engineering Learning Lab & Observatory. He teaches human-centered engineering design, design thinking, and design innovation courses. Dr. Lande researches how technical and non-technical people learn and apply design thinking and making processes to their work. He is interested in the intersection of designerly epistemic identities and vocational pathways. Dr. Lande received his B.S. in Engineering (Product Design), M.A. in Education (Learning, Design and Technology) and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Design Education) from Stanford University.

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Abstract

- - - - - INTRODUCTION - - - - - In addition to learning about and experiencing the engineering design process, a learning outcome of most first year engineering programs is to develop students' awareness of the design process itself. This can be difficult since engineering students, especially novices, often focus on the design deliverables as tasks rather than artifacts of an ongoing process. This workshop engages with the question: How might we help students become better able to intentionally engage in a design process, as part of an effort to help them become reflective practitioners [1] of design? One answer to this question revolves around the idea of “Design Signatures” [2], both a concept and a tool for representing and reflecting on a design process.

The group of design educators leading this workshop have experience using Design Signatures to teach undergraduate engineering students across a diverse set of institutions about design processes, from first-year students to graduate students. We have used Design Signatures in a variety of ways ranging from short, in-class activities to longer efforts where seniors track their capstone projects. We have collected signatures using paper-and-pencil bubble sheets, Google forms, spreadsheets, and a newly-developed Design Signatures app. In each implementation students have had great “aha” moments about the design process and themselves as designers. For example, students have said: –"I enjoyed the visualization of my project progress; it was very helpful to see how the project fleshed out as it did while also giving form to how it did." [First-year student] –"[Tracking our progress] kept us present and reminded us of phases that we needed to revisit or had forgotten." [First-year student] We are enthusiastic about sharing these inspirational activities with our colleagues and empowering first year engineering educators to equip their students with the tools to adopt a reflective design practice from the beginning of their academic careers.

- - - Anticipated audience - - - We expect this workshop to be of interest to first year engineering educators and researchers, especially those who research the design process, teach the design process, or engage in the design process themselves. We also expect this workshop to be of broader interest to first year educators who incorporate mindful practices in their courses or are interested in developing self-awareness in students as an effort to educate whole people. The main emphasis will be on strategies to develop a reflective design process, including equipping participants with tools to track and reflect on the design process. We will also discuss ways to encourage and support first year students to develop these design awareness skills.

- - - - - WORKSHOP GOALS - - - - - The intent of this workshop is to teach participants how to build self-awareness for their students and themselves through self-tracked design timelines (Design Signatures). With these Design Signatures visible in front of them, students and faculty can better reflect on an otherwise invisible design process.

At the end of this workshop, participants will –have confidence to run classroom activities where students self-create Design Signatures, –feel energized about the impact of Design Signatures on student learning about design, be able to make a concrete connection between Design Signatures and their own teaching/practice, –have a set of tools to track design processes that they can use in their classrooms, –be able to explain the foundations of the design research underlying this work, –feel connected to the broader first-year engineering, design education, and Design Signatures community, –and know where to find resources to support the implementation of Design Signatures with their own students.

- - - Significance - - - On a theoretical level, this work connects to the diversity of design processes (e.g., [3]) and research on metacognition (e.g., [4], [5], [6], [7]). This workshop also builds on prior research on helping students to become more metacognitively aware of their current state in a design process [8], [9] and on research on design timelines and representations [2]. These design timelines offer a unique approach to promote design reflection in classrooms grounded in engineering education design research. In addition to using these tools to study the design process, we are working as educators to support students to track and reflect on their own design processes.

The Design Signatures “in the Wild” community, currently composed of 13 educators and researchers across 8 institutions, has been exploring the use of Design Signatures to teach design since January, 2023. We are also giving versions of this workshop at other engineering education conferences this year. By sharing these resources widely, we hope to support our goal of developing a community of reflective design practitioners and educators.

- - - - - WORKSHOP SUMMARY AND OUTLINE - - - - - Over the course of this 90 minute workshop, participants will explore the idea of Design Signatures from different perspectives. First, we will put on our “researcher hats” to trace the development of this idea through a long history of design education research. Next, participants will put on their “designer hats” to experience what it’s like to track the design process using tools developed by the presenters. Finally, participants will put on their “design educator” hats to think about how the concept of Design Signatures and the associated tools and strategies could be implemented in their own first year context.

- - - Outline - - - –Introduction: We will provide an overview of the research context underlying Design signatures and introduce the presenters as a working group –Hands-On Learning: We will provide participants with an opportunity to interact with Design Signatures directly. For example, participants will develop new Design Signatures using synchronous coding of a recorded design activity –Implementation: We will discuss example implementations of Design Signatures to different course contexts and help participants make connections to their own courses. –Wrap-Up: We will recap the key workshop points and invite participants to join follow-up sessions after the conference.

- - - Pre-conference participation - - - We would like to distribute a short survey in advance to workshop participants to characterize their particular first year context so we can make more specific connections during the workshop. Some example questions might include: –Do you teach the design process to your first year students? –Do your first year students currently track their design process? If yes, how? –In what ways do you ask your first year students to reflect on their design process?

- - - - - REFERENCES - - - - - [1] D. A. Schön, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. London: Routledge, 2017. [2] C. J. Atman, “Design timelines: Concrete and sticky representations of design process expertise,” Des. Stud., vol. 65, pp. 125–151, Nov. 2019. [3] H. Dubberly, How do you design? A compendium of models. Dubberly Design Office, 2004. [4] G. Schraw and D. Moshman, “Metacognitive theories,” Educ. Psychol. Rev., vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 351–371, Dec. 1995. [5] P. R. Pintrich, “A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning in College Students,” Educ. Psychol. Rev., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 385–407, Dec. 2004. [6] A. H. Schoenfeld, “What’s All the Fuss about Metacognition?,” Cogn. Sci. Math. Educ., pp. 189–215, 1987. [7] P. Cunningham, H. M. Matusovich, J. R. Morelock, and D.-A. N. Hunter, “Beginning to Understand and Promote Engineering Students’ Metacognitive Development,” presented at the 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Jun. 2016. [Online]. [8] G. Scalone, A. J. Joya, K. E. Shroyer, and C. J. Atman, “Design Intentions: Engineering Students Looking Ahead to their Future Design Behavior,” presented at the 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Jun. 2019. [Online]. [9] A. J. Joya et al., “‘Where I’ve Been, Where I Am, Where I’m Going’: Exploring Design Awareness through an Undergraduate Student Seminar,” presented at the 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Jun. 2020. [Online].

Citation
Format

Batrouny, N. A., & Kotys-Schwartz, D. A., & Lande, M. (2024, July), Design Signatures in the Wild: Making the Invisible Visible (in First Year Engineering) WORKSHOP Paper presented at 15th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience Conference (FYEE), Boston, Massachusetts. 10.18260/1-2--48587

TY - CPAPER
AB - - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - - - -
In addition to learning about and experiencing the engineering design process, a learning outcome of most first year engineering programs is to develop students&#39; awareness of the design process itself. This can be difficult since engineering students, especially novices, often focus on the design deliverables as tasks rather than artifacts of an ongoing process. This workshop engages with the question: How might we help students become better able to intentionally engage in a design process, as part of an effort to help them become reflective practitioners [1] of design? One answer to this question revolves around the idea of “Design Signatures” [2], both a concept and a tool for representing and reflecting on a design process.

The group of design educators leading this workshop have experience using Design Signatures to teach undergraduate engineering students across a diverse set of institutions about design processes, from first-year students to graduate students. We have used Design Signatures in a variety of ways ranging from short, in-class activities to longer efforts where seniors track their capstone projects. We have collected signatures using paper-and-pencil bubble sheets, Google forms, spreadsheets, and a newly-developed Design Signatures app. In each implementation students have had great “aha” moments about the design process and themselves as designers. For example, students have said:
–&quot;I enjoyed the visualization of my project progress; it was very helpful to see how the project fleshed out as it did while also giving form to how it did.&quot; [First-year student]
–&quot;[Tracking our progress] kept us present and reminded us of phases that we needed to revisit or had forgotten.&quot; [First-year student]
We are enthusiastic about sharing these inspirational activities with our colleagues and empowering first year engineering educators to equip their students with the tools to adopt a reflective design practice from the beginning of their academic careers.

- - - Anticipated audience - - -
We expect this workshop to be of interest to first year engineering educators and researchers, especially those who research the design process, teach the design process, or engage in the design process themselves. We also expect this workshop to be of broader interest to first year educators who incorporate mindful practices in their courses or are interested in developing self-awareness in students as an effort to educate whole people. The main emphasis will be on strategies to develop a reflective design process, including equipping participants with tools to track and reflect on the design process. We will also discuss ways to encourage and support first year students to develop these design awareness skills.

- - - - - WORKSHOP GOALS - - - - -
The intent of this workshop is to teach participants how to build self-awareness for their students and themselves through self-tracked design timelines (Design Signatures). With these Design Signatures visible in front of them, students and faculty can better reflect on an otherwise invisible design process.

At the end of this workshop, participants will
–have confidence to run classroom activities where students self-create Design Signatures,
–feel energized about the impact of Design Signatures on student learning about design,
be able to make a concrete connection between Design Signatures and their own teaching/practice,
–have a set of tools to track design processes that they can use in their classrooms,
–be able to explain the foundations of the design research underlying this work,
–feel connected to the broader first-year engineering, design education, and Design Signatures community,
–and know where to find resources to support the implementation of Design Signatures with their own students.

- - - Significance - - -
On a theoretical level, this work connects to the diversity of design processes (e.g., [3]) and research on metacognition (e.g., [4], [5], [6], [7]). This workshop also builds on prior research on helping students to become more metacognitively aware of their current state in a design process [8], [9] and on research on design timelines and representations [2]. These design timelines offer a unique approach to promote design reflection in classrooms grounded in engineering education design research. In addition to using these tools to study the design process, we are working as educators to support students to track and reflect on their own design processes.

The Design Signatures “in the Wild” community, currently composed of 13 educators and researchers across 8 institutions, has been exploring the use of Design Signatures to teach design since January, 2023. We are also giving versions of this workshop at other engineering education conferences this year. By sharing these resources widely, we hope to support our goal of developing a community of reflective design practitioners and educators.

- - - - - WORKSHOP SUMMARY AND OUTLINE - - - - -
Over the course of this 90 minute workshop, participants will explore the idea of Design Signatures from different perspectives. First, we will put on our “researcher hats” to trace the development of this idea through a long history of design education research. Next, participants will put on their “designer hats” to experience what it’s like to track the design process using tools developed by the presenters. Finally, participants will put on their “design educator” hats to think about how the concept of Design Signatures and the associated tools and strategies could be implemented in their own first year context.

- - - Outline - - -
–Introduction: We will provide an overview of the research context underlying Design signatures and introduce the presenters as a working group
–Hands-On Learning: We will provide participants with an opportunity to interact with Design Signatures directly. For example, participants will develop new Design Signatures using synchronous coding of a recorded design activity
–Implementation: We will discuss example implementations of Design Signatures to different course contexts and help participants make connections to their own courses.
–Wrap-Up: We will recap the key workshop points and invite participants to join follow-up sessions after the conference.

- - - Pre-conference participation - - -
We would like to distribute a short survey in advance to workshop participants to characterize their particular first year context so we can make more specific connections during the workshop. Some example questions might include:
–Do you teach the design process to your first year students?
–Do your first year students currently track their design process? If yes, how?
–In what ways do you ask your first year students to reflect on their design process?

- - - - - REFERENCES - - - - -
[1] D. A. Schön, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. London: Routledge, 2017.
[2] C. J. Atman, “Design timelines: Concrete and sticky representations of design process expertise,” Des. Stud., vol. 65, pp. 125–151, Nov. 2019.
[3] H. Dubberly, How do you design? A compendium of models. Dubberly Design Office, 2004.
[4] G. Schraw and D. Moshman, “Metacognitive theories,” Educ. Psychol. Rev., vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 351–371, Dec. 1995.
[5] P. R. Pintrich, “A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning in College Students,” Educ. Psychol. Rev., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 385–407, Dec. 2004.
[6] A. H. Schoenfeld, “What’s All the Fuss about Metacognition?,” Cogn. Sci. Math. Educ., pp. 189–215, 1987.
[7] P. Cunningham, H. M. Matusovich, J. R. Morelock, and D.-A. N. Hunter, “Beginning to Understand and Promote Engineering Students’ Metacognitive Development,” presented at the 2016 ASEE Annual Conference &amp;amp; Exposition, Jun. 2016. [Online].
[8] G. Scalone, A. J. Joya, K. E. Shroyer, and C. J. Atman, “Design Intentions: Engineering Students Looking Ahead to their Future Design Behavior,” presented at the 2019 ASEE Annual Conference &amp;amp; Exposition, Jun. 2019. [Online].
[9] A. J. Joya et al., “‘Where I’ve Been, Where I Am, Where I’m Going’: Exploring Design Awareness through an Undergraduate Student Seminar,” presented at the 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Jun. 2020. [Online].
AU - Nicole Alexandra Batrouny
AU - Daria A Kotys-Schwartz
AU - Micah Lande
CY - Boston, Massachusetts
DA - 2024/07/28
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Design Signatures in the Wild: Making the Invisible Visible (in First Year Engineering) WORKSHOP
UR - https://peer.asee.org/48587
DO - 10.18260/1-2--48587
ER -