Project Planning & Development For Engineering Freshmen

The nature and background of students seeking an engineering education has changed drastically in the last decade, as has the expectations of industrial employers. Many students lack the organizational skills needed for academic success. Similar organizational skills, although more advanced, are required for managing engineering projects. A new course was developed by the faculty at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of New Haven. Through this course, a key component of the Multidisciplinary Engineering Foundation Spiral, seeks to promote higher retention rates, increase student motivation and begin a confidence-building transition to professional practice. Project management concepts are integrated for application by students to project activities. Thus students develop the project and self-management skills required to successfully plan and implement selected projects within budgetary and time constraints using Microsoft Project. Projects use LabVIEW programming 1 for data acquisition and control and CAD tools for technical communication of design information. Students gain proficiency in each of these areas as they are applied to a series of projects spanning the course. A novel feature of this course is the subdivision of a large highly complex project into multiple interdependent components with each team responsible for a specific component. Traditional project-based classes typically subdivide a project to minimize interaction among the teams or to limit each team to a single disciplinary perspective. This course uses the project subdivision to force a broader multidisciplinary attitude among the students. Each team must resolve the interface issues, so when assembled all components will operate together according to the specifications. Developed and taught by a multi-disciplinary team of faculty from the University of New Haven, this course provides a foundation for subsequent engineering courses with exposure to content in areas such as mechanics, electrical phenomena and programming logic. In addition the course contributes significantly to the development of time management, teamwork, and oral and written communication skills. Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright ©2004 American Society for Engineering Education P ge 9.025.1