Open AccessACADEMIC IMPACT AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF DESIGN TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
Author(s) -
Flavio Firmani,
Michael McWilliam,
Peter Wild
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
proceedings of the ... ceea conference
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2371-5243
DOI - 10.24908/pceea.v0i0.5872
Subject(s) - engineering education , mathematics education , medical education , engineering management , computer science , engineering , psychology , medicine
This paper presents the impact that theDesign Engineering and Design (DE&I) program offeredin 2013 has had in the Faculty of Engineering at theUniversity of Victoria. Through this program a pool ofnineteen graduate students were trained as DesignTeaching Assistants (DTAs). The purpose of this programis to train DTAs in engineering design principles andpedagogical skills for mentoring students working ondesign projects. During the year DTAs continued theirtraining by attending seminars presented by guestspeakers. To date, eight DTAs have been appointed toeither assist as qualified Teaching Assistant in alreadyestablished engineering design courses (two DTAs), or todevelop new design projects in courses that are primarilyengineering science (six DTAs). The latter was supportedby the course instructor and the coordinators of thisprogram. The paper describes the development andmanagement of these design projects, their impact onundergraduate students, and the personal experiencegained by the DTAs. Also, the paper presents a review ofthe 2013 DE&I program including a new strategy for theupcoming 2014 DE&I workshops that will focus more onthe development and execution of design projects of theDTAs.