A Study Of Rapid Prototyping For Use In Undergraduate Design Education

Development and use of rapid prototyping (RP) has drastically expanded in the last 10 years. Although use of the technology has been predominately focused in industry, academic use has become somewhat prevalent as well. At the U. S. Air Force Academy we have been using RP to enhance our design curriculum for the last three years. In this paper we give a brief overview of RP technology, and discuss how we use both classical (non-rapid) and rapid prototyping in our design classes. Assessment results from both faculty and students are presented which provide insight into the role of RP in undergraduate education. This assessment shows that students have an initial reluctance to using the RP technology. However, after they have used RP, they report that the process is surprisingly easy. In addition, they report that prototyping significantly enhances their design and more importantly, enhances their learning of the design tools and methodologies taught. Additional, more detailed, results concerning the use of RP are reported in the paper. Finally, we provide conclusions that indicate on how other institutions might use RP technology in their design curriculum.