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GIFTS: A Fantastically Creative AutoCAD Assessment

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Conference

14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference

Location

University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee

Publication Date

July 30, 2023

Start Date

July 30, 2023

End Date

August 1, 2023

Page Count

2

DOI

10.18260/1-2--44834

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/44834

Download Count

118

Paper Authors

biography

Angelina Jay Northeastern University

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Assistant Teaching Professor, First Year Engineering

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Abstract

This GIFTS paper presents the first iteration of an end-of-module AutoCAD assessment that promotes students’ creativity by encouraging them to make connections to the non-engineering parts of their lives. In addition to creativity being a core engineering competency, normalizing non-technical interests and passions can assist in retaining a truly diverse engineering student body. For this assessment, students are tasked with drawing a themed fantasy map, like you might find on the inside cover of a novel, in AutoCAD. The theme for this fantasy land is entirely open and up to them. They are given a set of required features (borders, mountain ranges, rivers, etc.), a set of formatting requirements and layers on which to draw those features, and a few example/inspiration images. Themes students chose in this iteration varied from Tolkien novels and Pokémon to students’ countries of origin, Taylor Swift, and even the setting of a fantasy short story that one student had personally written in high school. This assignment provides a platform where Taylor Swift Land can be equally as successful, technically correct, and valuable as any Robot Land or New York City, with the intent of helping students with less of a technical background feel a greater sense of ease in the engineering classroom.

Jay, A. (2023, July), GIFTS: A Fantastically Creative AutoCAD Assessment Paper presented at 14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--44834

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