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The Impact of Documenting Design Thinking, the Engineering Design Process Canvas, and Project Communication on Design Self-Efficacy of First-Year Students

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division (FYP) - Technical Session 11: Projects

Tagged Division

First-Year Programs Division (FYP)

Page Count

18

DOI

10.18260/1-2--44459

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/44459

Download Count

132

Paper Authors

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Jack Bringardner New York University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-5980-384X

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Jack Bringardner is the Assistant Dean for Academic and Curricular Affairs at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He is an Industry Associate Professor and Director of the General Engineering Program. He teaches the first-year engineering course Introduction to Engineering and Design. He is also the Director of the Vertically Integrated Projects Program at NYU. His Vertically Integrated Projects course is on the future of engineering education. His primary focus is developing curriculum, mentoring students, and engineering education research, particularly for project-based curriculum, first-year engineering, and student success. He is active in the American Society for Engineering Education and is the NYU ASEE Campus Representative. He serves on the First-Year Programs Division Executive Board as well as the Webmaster for the ASEE First-Year Programs Division and the First-Year Engineering Experience Conference. He is affiliated with the NYU Civil and Urban Engineering Department and advisor for NYU student chapter of the Institute for Transportation Engineers.

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Elizabeth Castroverde

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Paige Charette New York University

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Salma Moutasim Salaheldin Abuelgasim New York University Abu Dhabi

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McKenna Yoshinobu

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Rui Li New York University

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Dr. Li earned his master's degree in Chemical Engineering in 2009 from the Imperial College of London and his doctoral degree in 2020 from the University of Georgia, College of Engineering.

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Victoria Bill New York University

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Victoria Bill is the Director of the MakerSpace Lab and an Adjunct Professor in the First-Year Engineering Program at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. She studied electrical engineering and received her B.S. from the Ohio State University and her M.S. from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Engineering Education from the Ohio State University.

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Ingrid Paredes New York University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8246-5239

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Dr. Ingrid J. Paredes is an Industry Assistant Professor in the First-Year Engineering Program at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. She studied chemical engineering and received her B.S. and M.S. at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and her Ph.D. at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Her interests include diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education and sustainability education for engineers.

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Abstract

This complete evidence-based practice paper describes a study of three design interventions and a survey conducted of first-year engineering students to understand the impact on their design self-efficacy. The research question being addressed in this study is whether there is an impact of documenting the design thinking process, the engineering design process, and project communication on students’ level of self-efficacy to solve engineering design problems. And if so, to what extent did students find value in using the documentation activities for enhancing their engineering design capabilities? The aim of this study is to identify the best strategies for improving first-year students’ design skills that will help them succeed in future design projects. Many tools have been developed to improve engineering design skills of first year students like design thinking exercises, the Engineering Design Canvas, and strategies for communicating ideas. The evidence-based practice described in this study consists of in-class exercises for each of these tools which include 1) an IDEO design thinking worksheet at the beginning of the project, 2) the Engineering Design Canvas at the middle of the project, and 3) the Heitmeier Catechism design communication strategies at the end of the project.

This study was conducted at a large private university in the first-year multidisciplinary introductory engineering course. Each semester, half of the 700 first-year students enroll in this course which requires all students to complete a multidisciplinary semester-long design project. The engineering design self-efficacy questionnaire developed in 2010 was used before and after to determine the impact of the three design exercises. In addition to the design self-efficacy instrument, open-ended questions were asked about students' feelings toward the design process. This study encompasses one semester with 300 first-year students in an introductory engineering course. The pre- and post-surveys take place before and after the first and last design intervention, respectively. Statistical analysis of the Likert responses to the engineering design self-efficacy questionnaire are used to compare before and after data to determine areas where the design interventions had the greatest impact. Other data collected included major, year, and the project type they completed to identify if other trends impacted their self-efficacy.

The survey results indicate that students' design self-efficacy had statistically significant improvements in all areas except for motivation to select a possible design. In general, the motivation dimension of self-efficacy had the smallest practically significant increase. However, student self-efficacy for confidence and success increased for each step of the engineering design process. The anxiety dimension saw a statistically and practically significant decrease for each engineering design step. While the causation is limited by the course design project being completed between the pre-survey and post-survey, the qualitative results indicate that many students found the design interventions to be helpful in understanding aspects of each engineering design process step.

Bringardner, J., & Castroverde, E., & Charette, P., & Moutasim Salaheldin Abuelgasim, S., & Yoshinobu, M., & Li, R., & Bill, V., & Paredes, I. (2023, June), The Impact of Documenting Design Thinking, the Engineering Design Process Canvas, and Project Communication on Design Self-Efficacy of First-Year Students Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44459

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