This paper focuses on better understanding the student experience of tracking and reflecting on design timelines during team-based engineering design projects. While it is clear that doing design is necessary to learn how to design, evidence has shown that the act of doing alone is not sufficient to promote design learning. Layering reflection on top of doing has shown promising results in learning generally - with a challenge for design learning being how to create authentic opportunities for students to reflect deeply and regularly on their design process. In this paper, we explore how the act of self-tracking activities to create visual representations of one's design process provides such authentic opportunities for students across different class years in group projects of different lengths. In particular, we examine the student experience of self-tracking their design activities by analyzing their responses to a survey completed at the conclusion of their projects. The majority of the data points to promising results, showing self-tracking helped students develop metacognitive awareness without viewing reflection as a detraction from their design work.
Authors
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Reid Bailey is a Professor in the Department of Systems and Information Engineering at the University of Virginia. He holds a BSE from Duke University and an MSME and PhD from Georgia Tech, all in mechanical engineering. His professional interests center on engineering design, education, and sustainability.
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Dr. Jennifer Turns is a full professor in the Human Centered Design & Engineering Department in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. Engineering education is her primary area of scholarship, and has been throughout her career. In her work, she currently focuses on the role of reflection in engineering student learning and the relationship of research and practice in engineering education. In recent years, she has been the co-director of the Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education (CPREE, funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust), a member of the governing board for the International Research in Engineering Education Network, and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Engineering Education. Dr. Turns has published over 175 journal and conference papers on topics related to engineering education.
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Krina Patel (she/her) is a doctorate student in Engineering Education at the University at Buffalo. She holds a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley and a B.S. in Engineering Science from Penn State.
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Susannah Howe, Ph.D. is the Design Clinic Director in the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College, where she coordinates and teaches the capstone engineering design course. Her current research focuses on innovations in engineering design education, p
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Micah Lande, PhD is an Assistant Professor and E.R. Stensaas Chair for Engineering Education in the Leslie A. Rose Department of Mechanical Engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Dr. Lande directs the Holistic Engineering Lab and Observatory. He teaches human-centered engineering design, design thinking, and design innovation courses. Dr. Lande researches how technical and non-technical people learn and apply design thinking and making processes to their work. He is interested in the intersection of designerly epistemic identities and vocational pathways. Dr. Lande received his B.S. in Engineering (Product Design), M.A. in Education (Learning, Design and Technology) and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Design Education) from Stanford University.
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Dr. Patten received his B.S. in mechanical engineering at Washington State University and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, where he studied the wear of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene as used in joint replacements. At Berkeley, he was a graduate student instructor for several courses, covering various topics, styles, sizes, and class levels. After completing his PhD, he joined Makani Power, leading the design and development of the electromechanical tether for their new wind energy kite and was an inventor on over a dozen patents. In 2020, he joined the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Washington as an Assistant Teaching Professor, where he leads the capstone design program and teaches the senior-level design sequence.
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Cynthia J. Atman is the founding director of the Center for Engineering Learning & Teaching (CELT), a professor in Human Centered Design & Engineering, and the inaugural holder of the Mitchell T. & Lella Blanche Bowie Endowed Chair at the University of Washington. Dr. Atman holds a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on design expertise, engineering design learning, considering context in engineering design, and the use of reflection to support learning.
Note
The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on
June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025
http://orcid.org/0009-0000-0949-9280
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
[biography]