DeAgostino, T. H., & Jovanovic, V. M., & Thomas, M. B. (2014, June), Simulating Real-World Work Experience in Engineering Capstone Courses  Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--23016

\bibitem{asee_peer_23016}
  DeAgostino, T. H., \& Jovanovic, V. M., \& Thomas, M. B. (2014, June), \emph{Simulating Real-World Work Experience in Engineering Capstone Courses}
  Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana.
  10.18260/1-2--23016

Thomas H. DeAgostino, Vukica M. Jovanovic, and M. Brian Thomas.  "Simulating Real-World Work Experience in Engineering Capstone Courses".  2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2014, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2014.  https://peer.asee.org/23016 Internet.  22 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_23016}
  Thomas H. DeAgostino, Vukica M. Jovanovic, and M. Brian Thomas.
  "Simulating Real-World Work Experience in Engineering Capstone Courses".
  \emph{2014 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2014, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2014.
  https://peer.asee.org/23016 Internet.  22 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_23016
author = "Thomas H. DeAgostino, Vukica M. Jovanovic, and M. Brian Thomas"
title = "Simulating Real-World Work Experience in Engineering Capstone Courses"
booktitle = "2014 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2014"
month = "June"
address = "Indianapolis, Indiana"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/23016}
number = {10.18260/1-2--23016}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Simulating Real World Work Experience in Engineering Capstone CoursesAbstractThe current economic climate has resulted in a need for work-ready engineers and engineeringtechnologists who can fill positions in the advanced manufacturing sector. Statistics on the stateof US education indicate that approximately eight percent of manufacturers reported moderate toserious gaps in the availability of skilled manufacturing candidates. In addition, this skills gaphas negatively impacted their company’s ability to expand operations. There are additionallyabout five percent of manufacturing jobs which get unfilled even with the current unemploymentlevels. Industry needs graduates who are able to perform under the constraints of a workplacewhich require more competencies than can usually be offered in a typical engineeringcurriculum. Experiential learning and cooperative education provide students with the necessarytools and can simulate their future working environment. In this way, students can gaincompetencies which are highly sought by industry. Various studies have shown that manygraduates do have gaps related to their so called “soft skills” which are related to teamwork, timemanagement, working under pressure and tight deadlines. This paper will detail some of thenecessary elements required to make mechanical engineering and engineering technologycapstone courses to simulate real world work experience. In this way, future engineers candevelop their senior design prototypes in an industry-like project and become more “work-ready”. It presents a method whereby the senior design course is taught by a faculty withextensive industry experience. A panel of experts made up of other faculty from the departmentand industry provide feedback through a competition like project led by industry practitioners.The experiential learning techniques provide simulation of various learning experiences such as:problem based learning, critical thinking, collaborative learning and peer evaluation. Through theuse of situated cognition, and problem based, active learning, engineering techniques are blendedwith the sociological and psychological factors associated with engineering team projects. Thesenior engineering students take on the role of actual engineering job functions, on a demanding,continuous (24/7) basis for the entire school year or semester. These job functions come with allthe shortcomings and particular difficulties associated with those functions in the real world. Inorder to develop the interpersonal professional skills needed by industry, a methodology isexplained that allows the students to evolve socially as departments, while supporting them withinformation such as Tuckman’s stages of group development, Myers-Briggs type indication, andrecognition of the various personalities and issues arising when working in a cross-functional,team based environment. The course set-up results in engineering graduates that are notsurprised by the potential difficulties that may be encountered when ensconced in full-time,permanent engineering employment. The technique(s) presented in this paper were tailored to thetraditional roles of mechanical (design) engineers in the modern industrial setting, but can bereapplied to other engineering areas.Keywords: Industry competences, capstone courses, teamwork, project based learning
AU  - Thomas H. DeAgostino
AU  - Vukica M. Jovanovic
AU  - M. Brian Thomas
CY  - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA  - 2014/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Simulating Real-World Work Experience in Engineering Capstone Courses
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/23016
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--23016
ER  -