Project Based Teaching Of Engineering Design

As a result of major revisions to the mechanical engineering design curriculum, the United States Military Academy (USMA) has offered the new course, Mechanical Engineering Design, since 2006. This paper describes the evolution of this course and its associated annual course assessments. In addition, conclusions are provided about the efficacy of those changes. In the initial offering of the course, students were assigned to their senior capstone project teams and the formal design process was taught “just in time” for students to apply the process to their capstone projects. Based on both student and instructor assessments from the initial offering, the course was revised to teach the design process in the context of two simple projects (design a portable illumination device and design a device to store a West Point class ring) followed by the senior capstone project. The illumination device project served as an in-class example throughout formal instruction and the ring storage device project provided context for students‟ individual out-of-class work (homework, prototype fabrication, and final project report). Upon completion of the ring storage device project, students began their one and one-half term capstone design projects. Course revisions from the initial offering to the second offering have been reported previously in the literature. This paper briefly summarizes those earlier changes and describes revisions incorporated in the latest offering as a result of student and faculty feedback from the second offering. Recent changes include expanding the open-endedness of the in-class project and revising the timing of and expectations for the individual project. In its third offering the course effectively introduced topics in such a manner to encourage individual proficiency of design concepts before proceeding to the team-based capstone projects. Course feedback and subsequent analyses provide insight to the effectiveness of these evolutionary changes to the course, Mechanical Engineering Design. Faculty teaching engineering design in disciplines other than mechanical engineering can apply the underlying strategy to motivate student learning used in Mechanical Engineering Design.