Session: DEC-01-01: Design Across the Curriculum

Paper Number: 143467

143467 - Engineering Design Education: Assessing Student Learning in Cornerstone Through Capstone Programs 

This paper presents a “call to arms” for reconsidering how students’ engineering design learning and skill development are assessed, shifting from a traditional summative assessment to structured, repetitive formative assessment.  Students are expected to have developed 21^st Century Skills, engineering skills, and design skills by the time that they matriculate through the undergraduate program.  These skills are often overlapping and are recognized by faculty as critical and central to student development.  However, many of these skills are not directly evaluated and the formative feedback that students need to develop these skills is often lacking.  This paper presents an elaboration on these skills, various means of assessment that are common through engineering design curricula, and then a review of different design education approaches used in several mechanical and general engineering programs.  The three general phases of an undergraduate students career are detailed with respect to how design is integrated into the first year programs, mid-program, and capstone programs.  Finally, a set of recommendations are provided to start the conversation at different institutions.  These recommendations are not intended to be the final solution, but can be considered early prototypes that can be refined and edited for the unique needs of each different program.  Ultimately, it is recommended that students be provided multiple engineering design project experiences where they are provided feedback and then can use the lessons learned in executing subsequent projects.  It is critical that engineering design educators continue to reflect on their current practices, learning from others, and identifying opportunities for improvement, even if it might cause discomfort in a currently well run operation.  The student learning should always be at the forefront of all decisions made in engineering design education.

Presenting Author: Apurva Patel The University of Texas at Dallas

Presenting Author Biography: AP is a post doc at UTD

Authors:

Mohammad Fazelpour University of Maryland
Shraddha Joshi James Madison University
Gregory Mocko Clemson University
Alexander Murphy Florida Polytechnic University
Satchit Ramnath Clemson University
Rahul Renu Francis Marion University
James Righter The Citadel
Chiradeep Sen Florida Institute of Technology
Joshua Summers UT Dallas
Apurva Patel The University of Texas at Dallas