Freehand Sketching for Engineers: A Pilot Study

Richard Marklin is a Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI). and is a Certified Professional Ergonomist. He has had a successful research program in Ergonomics for over 20 years, but he found that students, both undergradute and graduate, do not know how to express their design ideas visually through freehand sketching. This phenomenon is due to the prevalance of Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, which, starting in 1990, supplanted mechanical drafting and freehand sketching skills that were traditional taught to engineering students. Prof. Marklin developed a short course to teach engineering students how to express their ideas and concepts with quick freehand sketches that require only a pencil (no instruments such as rulers or compasses are required). This course does NOT require visual art talent. He taught the 5-week course twice in Milwaukee (University of WI-Milwaukee and Marquette University) and is teaching the course at the U. of Costa Rica during Jan. and Feb. 2013. He plans to make a commercial grade video of the course and distribute it on YouTube. In addition, he will continue to teach the course at Marquette University because the course is very popular among engineering students.