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Work in Progress: Transformational Change in a Masters-level Integrated Capstone Design Course that Partners Industry and Academia

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Capstone Design

Tagged Division

Design in Engineering Education

Page Count

7

DOI

10.18260/1-2--38207

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/38207

Download Count

184

Paper Authors

biography

Andrew L. Gillen University College London Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8021-6108

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Andrew L. Gillen is a Lecturer in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering at University College London. He has a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech and B.S. in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University.

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biography

Michael L. Woodrow University College London Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-7463-7192

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University Lecturer with experience in both research and industry. Skilled in Fire Engineering, Integrated Design, Critical Thinking and Engineering Pedagogy. A professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Fire Engineering Education from The University of Edinburgh.

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biography

Jose Luis Torero University College London

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Professor José L. Torero works in the fields of safety, environmental remediation and sanitation where he specialises in complex environments such as developing nations, complex urban environments, novel architectures, critical infrastructure, aircraft and spacecraft. His work explores the interplay between professional education, project drivers and outcomes. He holds a BSc for the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and an MSc and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He received a Doctor Honoris Causa by Ghent University in 2016. He is a Chartered Engineer (UK), a Registered Professional Engineer in Queensland, a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) and the Royal Society of Edinburgh (UK).

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Abstract

Integrated capstone design courses in civil engineering pose a major challenge for educators because of the breadth of topics covered. Partnering with industry has historically provided a way to alleviate some of these challenges and provide a more authentic design experience. While external partnership in capstone design courses can provide added authenticity as well as fringe benefits such as networking opportunities, there are risks associated with an industry-driven approach. We also argue there is a need to shift from an emphasis on product to pedagogy in capstone design and that authenticity from industry is not an end in itself. In this work-in-progress paper, we present our project to reimagine the integrated capstone design course at a large, public research university in the United Kingdom. This project has three major goals: (1) Develop an understanding of how to balance industry involvement; (2) Generate mechanisms for sustainable adoption of changes; and (3) Evaluate short- and long-term student outcomes for the course. We will present an overview of our intended curricular changes as well as research and evaluation plans to date. This project fits uniquely in the current literature on engineering design education in that it centers around a masters-level course and challenges the notion of what constitutes healthy industry partnership. As a starting point, our first research question considers how the current capstone design course came to be a primarily outsourced effort and what factors impacted this organizational shift to lower academic ownership from within the department.

Gillen, A. L., & Woodrow, M. L., & Torero, J. L. (2021, July), Work in Progress: Transformational Change in a Masters-level Integrated Capstone Design Course that Partners Industry and Academia Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--38207

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