2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A redesigned course employing blended delivery, a flipped format, and modified mastery learning with a buffet approach to assign final grades was used to teach engineering design to approximately 25 dual-level (juniors, seniors, and first year graduate) students pursuing baccalaureate degrees in environmental, civil, or architectural engineering or a graduate degree in environmental engineering. The course replaced a traditional pedagogical format that used lecture-discussion augment with extended homework assignments and a semester-long design project, which focused on the content of designing a wastewater treatment plants. The redesigned course uses the engineering design process to improve the local food system, which includes aspects of sustainability and life cycle principles of water, carbon, and nutrients. Spanning the full impact of COVID-19 (spring semester 2020 initial disruption and movement to remote learning; spring 2021 online instruction; and spring 2022 a return to face-to-face instruction), this paper describes: a) details of course pedagogy; b) details of course content; and 3) outcomes from three course offerings over a period of three years to 84 students. Attributes of this course described in this article, include: 1) students completed lecture content mapped closely to the Environmental Engineering Body of Knowledge (EnvEng BoK) and the design criteria described by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET Inc.; 2) students prepared podcasts to teach design principles to specific audiences (i.e., high school students, peers, and public officials); and 3) students worked independently and in small groups to perform term-length design exercises. A unique aspect of this course included interdisciplinary involvement of faculty from environmental engineering, University extension, and nursing to provide both breadth in how to engage with communities for design (i.e., from a nursing perspective) as well as depth in how to understand and consider local food systems (i.e., from a University extension perspective).