Challenges and Evolution of Combined and Separate Thermodynamics Courses in a Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Technology Program

In 2010 the engineering department at Eastern Washington University added a mechanical engineering (ME) program to its already established mechanical engineering technology (MET) program. As part of the transition new courses were developed for the pure ME program and some were redesigned to include both programs. Thermodynamics, for instance, was taught as a single class for both ME and MET students initially, with the same outcomes and requirements for each group. This coupled-course approach was also taken for other courses, as deemed practical and appropriate. This resulted in challenges to both the students from each group as well as to the faculty. MET students, for instance, were required to take only calculus I and II while ME students often had already completed calculus IV and differential equations, resulting in a dilemma for faculty attempting to present a calculus-based curriculum. The students from each program also had different goals and expectations, which further made it difficult to design course content that was appropriate to all and also meet the program requirements. To address these issues, in 2013 the thermodynamics course was split into two separate courses for ME and MET students, with very similar student preand co-requisites, similar program objectives, and curriculums established specifically for each program. Throughout the development of the new ME program, student learning data was collected for all students going through both the ME and MET thermodynamics course (as well as other courses), in order to help inform the faculty on how well the courses were meeting objectives. Two specific assessments were used: a student survey addressing how well the course met the course objectives and assignment grades tied to each course objective. Results from these assessments have helped direct the continuous development of these courses over the past several years. The objective of this paper is to present these data and the evolution of the thermodynamics course from purely MET, through combined ME & MET, and finally to the separate ME & MET courses. A qualitative review is also given on particular student challenges and impacts and on the program’s experiences throughout this transition and development.