First Year Design Experience: Assembling The “Big Picture” Through Innovative Product Design

Crittenden, Kelly; Hall, David W.; Barker, Mark; Brackin, Patricia

doi:10.18260/1-2--5334

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The final course, ENGR 122, consists of an open-ended design project that requires students to conceive, design, fabricate, test, and demonstrate a smart product 6 . The nature of this course is not conducive to kits.…”

Section: Kit Assemblymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Student Run Help Desk To Facilitate A Robotics Based Course Sequence

Easley¹,

Hall²,

Beard³

et al.

2010 Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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Many engineering programs have implemented project-based, first-year experiences to foster the development of skills and attitudes that improve student retention and better prepare students for an increasingly dynamic and global workplace. Project-focused approaches increase the workload of already busy faculty members and can be difficult to sustain, particularly when budgets are tight. Added responsibilities such as ordering and managing supplies, resolving technical issues faced by students, and maintaining tools and machinery rob faculty of time that could be better spent focusing on the learning experience.Louisiana Tech University has addressed this issue by implementing a project-focused curriculum that we call Living with the Lab. This curriculum decreases a portion of the faculty workload by transferring the ownership and maintenance of laboratory platforms and tools from the university to the students. Each student purchases a robotics kit with a programmable controller, sensors, servos, and software. In addition, students are required to purchase a kit that includes a majority of the tools necessary to complete the required projects in the new curriculum. The robotics kit and toolkit provide the foundation for a laboratory and design platform that is completely mobile and accessible at all times. Despite Louisiana Tech's transition to a student-owned laboratory and design platform, a significant portion of the faculty workload still includes tasks necessary to appropriately facilitate our project-based approach.To increase the sustainability of the curriculum, our faculty team has implemented a student-run help desk that is responsible for many of the tasks required to sustain the curriculum. By analyzing help desk data collected throughout the year, we measure and identify the types of activities performed by the student-run help desk as well as the utilization of it by Louisiana Tech's first-year engineering students. This paper describes our first-year approach, the management of project supplies and equipment, the help desk, and the assessment data collected throughout the year.

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Section: Kit Assemblymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Student Run Help Desk To Facilitate A Robotics Based Course Sequence

Easley¹,

Hall²,

Beard³

et al.

2010 Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

Self Cite

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“…Although such programs are well-regarded in design instruction, they do not offer a curriculum with a strong science and engineering science to accompany the strong presence of design instruction. Engineering programs that have a strong design and engineering science presence are also not common and examples of such programs include the University of Maryland [7], Harvey Mudd College [8], Louisiana Tech University [9], Rowan University [10], Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, East Carolina University, Smith College, and most recently James Madison University [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Vision for Engineering Design Instruction: On the Innovative Six Course Design Sequence of James Madison University

Pierrakos¹,

Pappas²,

Nagel³

et al.

2012 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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is an Associate Professor and founding faculty member in the School of Engineering, which is graduating its inaugural class May 2012, at James Madison University. Pierrakos holds a B.S. in engineering science and mechanics, an M.S. in engineering mechanics, and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Virginia Tech. Her interests in engineering education research center around recruitment and retention, engineering design instruction and methodology, learning through service (NSF EFELTS project), understanding engineering students through the lens of identity theory (NSF BRIGE grant), advancing problem-based learning methodologies (NSF CCLI grant), assessing student learning, and understanding and integrating complex problem solving in undergraduate engineering education (NSF CA-REER grant). Her other research interests lie in cardiovascular fluid mechanics, sustainability, and K-12 engineering outreach.

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“…12 Louisiana Tech University, has similarly developed a three course sequence providing an immersive, laboratory-based experience; the third course in this sequence focuses on the engineering design process and follows the IDEO design process. 13 At Rowan University, an engineering clinic course sequence (which is comprised of one course per term for all four academic years) provides immersive laboratory based experiences for students across all engineering majors. 14 The sophomore clinic begins during the fall term with a disciplinary design experience and culminating during the spring term with multidisciplinary design experiences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%