2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper discusses the introduction and delivery of project experiences intended to create, strength, and sustain the professional growth of the undergraduate engineering degree student. The engineering industry in the 21st century is rapidly evolving with the numerous technological advances across the globe. The engineering programs at universities across the world must adapt to the ever-changing landscape by ensuring the preparation of the student to meet the demands and needs of the global workforce. Engineering project-based learning experiences go a long way toward training each engineering student to become an active, intentional, and goal-oriented learner. In addition to be educated and trained with the latest industry-approved tools, the engineering student expects to be developing the skills critically necessary to function effectively in the engineering industry.

The introductory course is the first in a sequence of courses offered by the Electrical and Cyber Engineering (ECE) department at this institution lending credibility to the fact that the department can take on the identity of an ECE organization. In this organization, the faculty members of the ECE department, besides being traditional classroom educators, assume the role of project managers. As the project manager, the faculty member delegates responsibilities to the student and coordinates the project activities of the student teams. The students in the ECE program can be viewed both as four-year employees of the ECE workforce and as customers who pay for value-adding educational experiences. In addition, the students become mentors for new trainees/interns as they progress through the ECE undergraduate program. The freshman class constitutes the new interns or entry-level trainees, the sophomore class form the mid-level trainees, the junior class represent the engineers with adequate basic training and working toward the required skills, and the senior class identified as the engineers who have acquired advanced training and deemed ready for real-world experiences.

If the project experiences in this introductory course take place on a centralized engineering project platform, then the impact on the training of the engineering student across the four year program is indeed more beneficial in the long run. The centralized engineering platform creates and fosters the environment which mimics the engineering industry wherein senior-level students guide the junior-level students. This relationship shares some of the attributes observed in industry with senior, junior, and entry-level engineers. Collaboration and team work on projects promote leadership, communication, and technical skills across the four years of the curriculum, attributes that are crucial for future global engineers. The students learn to work on teams, assume leadership roles, and make decisions on how to work together by abiding by a set of rules that will help the team succeed. They inculcate discipline and take responsibility for actions and decisions, facets that would serve them well in their future professions and careers.