Making it Work in the Virtual Capstone Climate and Beyond: Project-based Perspectives Across a Variety of Programs and Universities
- Conference
- Location
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Virtual Conference
- Publication Date
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July 26, 2021
- Start Date
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July 26, 2021
- End Date
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July 19, 2022
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Design in Engineering Education
- Page Count
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20
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--37475
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/37475
- Download Count
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375
Paper Authors
Shraddha Joshi James Madison University
Dr. Shraddha Joshi is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering at James Madison University. She earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University with her research focused on understanding the role of requirements in engineering design by novices. At Clemson, Dr. Joshi has worked on multiple industry sponsored research projects (Michelin tweel –low rolling resistance for non-pneumatic tires, IFAI ballast friction testing project). She was actively involved in mentoring and advising Capstone design projects. She has advised over 10 different design projects –BMW, Rotary, TTi and mentored over 100 students. While at Clemson, Dr. Joshi was also awarded endowed teaching fellowship as a part of which she has taught a sophomore class on Foundations of Mechanical Systems for 2 semesters.
Dr. Joshi worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow with Professor Jonathan Cagan at Carnegie Mellon University. She investigated the avenues of internet of things and connected products. While at Carnegie Mellon University, Dr. Joshi was also instructor for classes such as Mechanical Engineering Seminar, Capstone Design and Storytelling with Machines.
Dr. Joshi’s areas of interest include requirements in design, conceptual design, engineering education, design representations, development of design tools and design research methods, internet of things and connected products.
Bob Rhoads Ohio State University
Bob Rhoads currently functions as the Multidisciplinary Capstone Program Director for the Department of Engineering Education at Ohio State University. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State University and Masters in Business Administration from Regis University. Prior to his involvement as the program director, he had over 12 years of experience in industry with roles that varied from process engineering to sales engineering to design engineering. He has also functioned as an engineering technology faculty for three years at Zane State College in Zanesville, Ohio, where he developed and taught courses that included CAD, solid modeling, statics, strength of materials, machine design, and statistical process control. He is currently active in curriculum development and education research focused on capstone design.
Kris Jaeger-Helton Northeastern University
Professor Beverly Kris Jaeger-Helton, Ph.D. is on the full-time faculty in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University (NU) teaching Simulation Modeling & Analysis, Human-Machine Systems, Facilities Planning & Material Handling, and Capstone. She is the Director of Senior Capstone Design in Industrial Engineering as well as the Founding Director of the Galante Engineering Business Program at NU. Dr. Jaeger-Helton has also been an active member of Northeastern’s Gateway Team, a select group of teaching faculty expressly devoted to the first-year Engineering Program at NU. In addition, she serves as a Faculty Advisor for Senior Capstone Design and graduate-level Challenge Projects in Northeastern’s Gordon Engineering Leadership Program. Dr. Jaeger-Helton has been the recipient of over 15 awards in engineering education for both teaching and mentoring and has been involved in several engineering educational research initiatives through ASEE and beyond.
Sindia M. Rivera-Jiménez University of Florida
Dr. Rivera-Jiménez is currently a Lecturer at the Department of Engineering Education and an affiliate faculty to the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, University of Florida (UF). In this role, she works towards creating evidence-based teaching practices for chemical engineering design courses and local and national community outreach activities. Her research focuses on understanding the processes that contribute to the persistence and retention of underrepresented minorities in academic engineering programs during formal and informal educational experiences. In particular, she is interested in studying collaborative environments, social perspectives and inclusive practices in engineering design teams. Outside the classroom, she serves as a creator and facilitator of professional development workshops for industry and academia using blended instructional tools.
Abstract
Project-based learning (PBL) is one of the most effective engineering education tools to teach capstone design courses. PBL allows faculty to expose their students to more complex, open-ended, real-world problems typically using faculty-led or industry-led project scopes within collaborative teaching environments. With all the changes in the educational landscape due to COVID-19, capstone design courses that use PBL pedagogical approaches are uniquely affected by it. With several transitions to virtual course delivery and back, capstone faculty are now challenged with helping students meet project objectives and deliverables, manage sponsor expectations, and foster student team cohesion in virtual settings, all while fulfilling the course learning outcomes. This research was conducted by capstone faculty at four different universities, and objectives are twofold. The first objective is to understand the challenges faced by the capstone faculty due to transitions to largely remote capstone offerings, especially within the areas of managing sponsorship and the associated final project deliverables. The second objective is to open a dialogue in the broader capstone community to harness input and share best practices to overcome and even rise to these challenges. In order to understand these challenges, first a survey was conducted with the broader capstone community to include multitude of persons associated with capstone at a variety of institutions. This included capstone directors, coordinators, instructors, and advisors. Findings from this research indicated the commonality of challenges faced by capstone faculty regardless of engineering major or type of institutions. Select results from the survey were curated and shared via a panel at the recent ASEE annual conference. The panel served as a platform to bring together the capstone community for continued conversations. This paper will present an expanded overview of survey results and shared panel experiences while offering recommendations for ongoing opportunities to adapt- for -success in the virtual capstone climate and beyond.
Joshi, S., & Rhoads, B., & Jaeger-Helton, K., & Rivera-Jiménez, S. M. (2021, July), Making it Work in the Virtual Capstone Climate and Beyond: Project-based Perspectives Across a Variety of Programs and Universities Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37475
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