A model for teaching multidisciplinary capstone design in mechanical engineering

A Quantitative Analysis of the Effects of a Multidisciplinary Engineering Capstone Design Course

“…The goal of this paper is to advance the current MCD literature, which tends to rely heavily on course evaluations and descriptions of implementations substantiated by student satisfaction self-report surveys. Representative qualitative reports of MCD innovations include those at Brigham Young University (Todd et al, 1993), Colorado School of Mines (Miller & Olds, 1994), Behrend College at Penn State University (Ford, Goodrich, & Weissbach, 2004), Howard University (Thigpen, Glakpe, Gomes, & McCloud, 2004), University of Missouri-Rolla (Stone & Hubing, 2002), Harvey Mudd College (Bright & Philips, 1999), and Santa Clara University (Kitts & Quinn, 2004). Reviewing the literature of capstone design courses, Dutson, Todd, Magleby, & Sorensen (1997) state that "the literature is filled with positive comments from students, instructors, and industrial sponsors who have participated in capstone design courses," with most participants reporting that they benefitted from it.…”

Students’ Perceptions of Communications and Course Motivation Provided by Faculty

“…Leaders in higher education should focus on the benefits of multidisciplinary learning (Schneider, 2011), where multidisciplinary teams are made up of students from multiple collaborating departments (Thigpen et al, 2004). In a study of 180 students, Ivins (1997) found that multidisciplinary teams resulted in tangible and intangible benefits in courses with innovation activities.…”

An Interdisciplinary, Multi-Institutional Design Experience for Freshman Engineering and Art Students

“…• Choose an assignment with a focused objective and a clear set of specifications. As others [4], [5] have noted, this is can be challenging. However, in our case we suffered by making the project objective too open-ended.…”

“…• Design of automobile option packages at Howard University [5] • Creation of "technology-mediated" sculptural works at the University of Waterloo [6] • Design and construction of an interactive sculpture at Binghamton University [7] • Various projects combining engineering with aerial photography, music, dance, theater, and drawing at Valparaiso University [8], [9] The collaborative engineering-art project assignment described in this work differs from those listed above in several ways. The students involved in this work were all first-year students, whereas the above projects were all at the capstone/senior-level.…”