2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Three key themes –among others– guide engineering education across academic levels, from first year to graduation: (1) growth and development, in particular technical skills and mindset, (2) reinforcement of fundamental engineering processes such as problem-solving and decision making, and (3) preparation for the industry beyond university settings, including leadership, teamwork, communication, ethics –and the above.

There is a strong emphasis on the design component in academic engineering programs, championed by ABET’s Criterion 3, Outcome 2 [1]. Like the primary themes above, this design focus spans the engineering curriculum from First-year Cornerstone to Senior-level Capstone. As faculty and experienced industry professionals, we have a strong sense of the foundation required to succeed in engineering. At times we delightfully align with our students; at other times, we detect gaps in what we know is required versus what students believe is needed when it comes to identifying “what it takes” to develop potential as a successful design engineer of high character. From entry-level Cornerstone to the culminating Capstone experience, engineering educators aim to foster evolving perspectives and a growth mindset regarding the key components of successful engineering design. Specifically, students require applicable needs assessment, problem formulation, project planning, goal-setting, research competencies, technical skill development, problem-solving approaches, testing methodologies, productive iteration, and objective decision-making to arrive at viable engineering solutions [2]. These capabilities, combined with qualities related to ethics, teamwork, communication, productive perceptual shifts, and perseverance, combine to develop competent, principled engineering professionals [3].

This multiphase research sets out to determine whether there are gaps in perception across academic levels in the traits above and identify where opportunities lie to build bridges to equip our developing engineers with the professional competencies, mindsets, and technical skills, to function as successful design engineers.

To analyze engineering design perspectives across the academic levels and learn of students’ self-reported open-ended views and areas of focus at different points in their academic journey, surveys were administered to students in first-year Cornerstone and final-year Capstone in Unnamed University’s College of Engineering (N=153). Along with key demographic, academic, and work history information, students responded to several questions related to (1) defining engineering design, (2) outlining required and/or desirable skills for effective engineering design projects (3) contributors to failed projects, and (4) self-assessment of skills and attributes to be successful, along with explanations.

This research initiative focuses on students identifying the attributes and abilities needed and the priority profiles that emerged for each level, first-year and senior year. Open-ended responses were analyzed using rule-guided qualitative text analysis to identify categories, patterns, and themes with measurable relevance [4]. Here, students were asked, “Without referencing any sources: What do you think a person needs, knows and does to conduct effective engineering design projects?” Analyses are outlined below.
There were some key similarities between the two populations, yet the differences revealed opportunities for improvement at each end of the academic spectrum. The seniors in Capstone revealed a clear pattern of requirements and attributes to be effective at engineering design, (T=tied): #1T: Planning and gaining clarity on approach (50%), #1T: Technical skills/knowledge (50%), #3: Information/data and research/background (46%), #4: Resilient/agile/open mindset and problem-solving attitude (36%), #5: Identifying goals/objectives (13%), #6T: Teamwork/collaboration/ communication (29%), #6T: Vision/ creativity/ideation (29%), #8: Understanding audience/users/ethics/ empathy (18%), and a variety of ‘Other’, such as creating hypotheses, analyzing risks, outlining limitations and having a structured framework to follow (21%).

The first-year students in Cornerstone had simialare categories for the inquiry, plus 2 more. Those marked ‘NEW’ were named by Cornerstone students but effectively were not mentioned by the seniors in Capstone (T=tied): #1: Technical skills/knowledge (61%), #2: Understanding audience/users/ethics/empathy (37%), #3T, NEW: identifying methods/framework, boundaries/constraints (34%), #3T, NEW: Testing/revising/ iterating (34%), #5: Teamwork/collaboration/communication (32%), #6: Resilient/agile/open mindset and problem-solving attitude (26%), #7T: Vision/creativity/ideation (21%), #7T: Information/data and research/background (21%), #9T: Planning and gaining clarity on approach (13%), #9T: Identifying goals/objectives (13%), and ‘Other’, such as passion, leadership, confidence, and critical thinking (11%).

Findings from this research phase suggest opportunities for further emphasis in the early Cornerstone offering in the areas of planning and project management as well as the need to conduct research and obtain data and background information as a priority. Likewise, the seniors in Capstone Design can learn from sentiments of the first-year students. The latter identified the need to understand and empathize with end users and target beneficiaries, including maintaining an ethical compass. This outward-facing perspective is found much lower on the seniors’ list. Similarly, the concept of failing, iterating, and retrying is near the top of the first-year list, yet is virtually absent on the Capstone list.

From here we can explore new ways to incorporate the key “missing” elements into the respective course levels AND throughout the curriculum. In addition, this research approach serves as a valuable tool for other programs seeking curricular fortification and continuity in engineering design.

As this work is ongoing, additional survey findings will be explored with these goals in mind.