Interpretation Of Engineering And Non Engineering Skills During Transition From Being A Freshman To A Graduating Engineer

This paper provides an overview of the results of student skill assessment as students gradually progress from freshman to senior year. The curriculum chosen was a revised engineering curriculum involving all the four years of the program. The curriculum change was necessitated by the implementation of a NSFAction Agenda Grant, “ Integrating Engineering Design with Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences and Mathematics”. The major curriculum change involved the following courses and instructional blocks. At the freshman year, the students were introduced to integrated learning blocks; at the sophomore year, the students were exposed to a new course on Engineering by Design with ethical component; at the junior year, the students are exposed to engineering practice; and at the senior year, the students undertake capstone projects from the industry. The assessment was done using a set of questionnaires that considered the groups of “Skill Clusters”: Engineering Skills, Computer Skills, Communication Skills, and Management Skills. The students were exposed to different skill levels depending on their progression into the engineering curriculum. The results provided some insight into the student’s systematic self-assessment of skill levels, as he / she progresses from first year to the final year. Based on the results, a feedback and continuous improvement mechanism is being developed. Background Curriculum Restructuring – Freshman Level: In the last decade, there have been nationwide efforts in restructuring freshman curricula. Accordingly, the University of Hartford had redesigned the freshman program in engineering. This has helped the students to be exposed to fundamental engineering concepts in their freshman year side by side with science and humanities courses. Although the assessment of this first year program showed positive impact on student performance, the fragmented structure of the first –year curriculum still created problems in terms of student learning. Students seldom relate engineering topics to math, science, social science or writing. P ge 740.1 “Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ” 2002, American Society for Engineering Education” Curriculum Restructuring – Establishing Linkages: The problem of fragmented structure was overcome with the creation of unique course combinations where faculty from engineering, math, science, humanities, and social science worked together to define student learning outcomes for project-based curricula. Engineering and non-engineering courses were clustered into integrated First-Year Interest Groups (FIGs). Engineering and interdisciplinary courses were paired in the sophomore and junior year, by emphasizing collaborative projects involving engineering and non-engineering students. The integrated learning blocks created for four years of curriculum are shown in Figure 1. Curriculum Restructuring – Design Integration: The integration of applied research and contextualized design throughout the engineering curriculum, started from a design-based, freshman-level course and progressing through intermediate courses at the sophomore and junior level, culminating in the capstone design experience at the senior level. The introduction of design-oriented courses in each year of the engineering curriculum has given the students an opportunity to make connections between various courses and obtain a better perspective of engineering practice. For each of the four years, design-oriented courses have been established, as shown in Figure 2. Both technical and non-technical aspects of design are treated in depth using lectures, case studies and collaborative group projects. These courses and design projects provide the skills in problem solving, communication, computer skills, ethics, time management, team building skills, and business knowledge in addition to technical knowledge. Figure 2: Design Oriented Courses through out The Engineering Curriculum ENGINEERING BY DESIGN (Sophomore Year) PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN (Freshman Year) ENGINEERING PRACTICE (Junior Year) SENIOR CAPSTONE PROJECT (Senior Year)