2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper discusses the methodology and results of utilizing students’ experiential learning from co-ops to develop lesson plans that better meet industry expectations for future co-op students while also meeting the course and student outcomes. Engineering students at the College are required to partake in at least two co-op experiences. The first required co-op is during the summer, after the completion of the students' 2nd academic year. Many students select a co-op which involves land development or stormwater management and to prepare students for this field, first year civil engineering students take a civil site design course that includes twelve weeks of surveying laboratory, where students gain familiarization with field surveying tasks and utilizing Autodesk® Civil 3D®. With the increase in complexity in Autodesk® Civil 3D® Fundamental’s software tutorial, course evaluations showed a decline in student self-efficacy. The 2024 tutorial is now 1000 pages, 18 chapters in length. Students commented that the Civil 3D© tutorial was overwhelming due to the abundance of tasks required for each chapter and that the tasks outlined in the tutorials were too advanced for an entry level Civil 3D® user. In addition, students noted even when they completed the tutorial, they were not confident in their ability in using the program outside of the course. Students also had a difficult time relating the tasks in the assignments to real-world applications.

To improve student-efficacy in Civil 3D® and prepare future students for site design related co-ops, two senior students proposed an independent study to develop new projectized laboratory modules that faculty could incorporate in the civil engineering site design course. Both students had completed twelve months of co-ops and developed laboratory modules based on their experiential learning acquired during these co-ops. Industry co-op partners were also interviewed to collaborate and verify the learning objectives which included:
● Planning, collecting, surveying, and transferring spatial data from on campus locations
● Formatting spatial data for importing into Civil 3D® program
● Gaining experience with Autodesk Civil 3D®
● Gaining design and presentation skills focusing on the use of survey equipment with Civil 3D® software

In addition to improving Civil3D® familiarization with students, another objective of this research was to improve engagement and interest by developing laboratory modules that utilize sites on campus that students are familiar with. Another unrealized benefit of improved student self-efficacy was the increase in student interest in pursuing co-ops with civil engineering firms that utilize Civil 3D®. The methodology of this paper could be easily modified to be utilized by other institutions with similar programs.