Integrating Design Projects Into An Introductory Course In Graphics Communications

In recent years, much has been written about the many potential benefits resulting from a freshman-level “Introduction to Engineering” or “Introduction to Design” course. Despite these benefits, however, many institutions have been unable to add such a course to their engineering curricula, for a variety of legitimate reasons. Penn State University at Harrisburg has opted to initially work toward this objective by aggressively integrating the fundamentals of design throughout the engineering technology program curriculum. In particular, this article features ET 200, “Graphic Communications,” a course taken by all students in the Structural Design and Construction Engineering Technology Program, generally during the fall semester of their junior year. The course content is conventional and develops basic skills in the student aimed at reading and interpreting commercial and residential construction drawings. For most students, ET 200 is their first engineering course with the potential for a design component. These design projects presented in this paper were developed and implemented with specific objectives in mind: