Student Perspectives on Capstone Design Learning (original) (raw)
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Perspectives on learning in a capstone design course
2000
A new course learning model was developed for our capstone design course in computer engineering, ECE 482 -Capstone: Computer System Design. It has been delivered during six semesters, each providing a set of new experiences and an array of lessons learned. Students, employers, and educational researchers have recognized the benefits of the course. Despite the positive outcomes, key questions and obstacles remain that impact sustainable reform in the capstone design experience. In this paper, we chronicle the experiences and lessons from the perspectives of the faculty and students involved with the course. We focus on the learning model, including its implementation, adaptation, impact and perception.
Student reflections on capstone design: experiences with industry-sponsored projects
International Journal of Engineering Education, 2014
Students are a primary stakeholder in engineering Capstone Design courses, but the student voice risks being overlooked indiscussions of Capstone Design pedagogy and development. While many engineering programs collect student feedback andperformance data for accreditation purposes, the engineering education and engineering design literature provide few resources thatcapture student perspectives on Capstone Design, especially across multiple institutions. The 2012 Capstone Design Conferencehosted two well-attended panel sessions called ‘‘Student Reflections on Capstone Design’’ specifically to highlight studentexperiences in Capstone Design courses with industry-sponsored projects. Each panel featured four different panelists who hadrecently completed their Capstone Design courses, had worked with different industrial sponsors, and represented differentinstitutions and engineering disciplines. The facilitator of each panel asked the same initial questions of the respective panelists...
Characterizing capstone design teaching: A functional taxonomy
Journal of Engineering Education
Background: Capstone design courses represent a critical juncture in students' development at the transition from school to work. However, few studies have systematically explored teaching in this context, leaving a significant gap in our ability to concretely describe faculty practices in ways that support subsequent explorations of the relationships between teaching practices and learning outcomes. Purpose/Hypothesis: The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive description of the pedagogical practices used by capstone design faculty from a functional perspective and provide researchers with a framework for subsequent work. Design/Method: This study used qualitative methods to analyze interviews with 42 capstone faculty; the participants represent a stratified purposeful sample of respondents to a national survey. Analysis focused on descriptive coding, beginning with a priori codes, to define broad functions, supplemented with emergent coding to identify concrete practices used in the capstone context. Results: The study resulted in a model of capstone design teaching that includes nine functions (challenge, protect, coach, promote employability, provide exposure, provide role models, accept and confirm, counsel, and build rapport) and 28 associated practices. Conclusions: Capstone faculty use a range of practices designed not only to coach students through the engineering design process but also to more broadly prepare students for workplace practice and build their identity as engineering professionals.
2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
where she co-directs the Virginia Tech Engineering Communications Center (VTECC). Her research focuses on communication in engineering design, interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, design education, and gender in engineering. She was awarded a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to study expert teaching in capstone design courses, and is co-PI on numerous NSF grants exploring communication, design, and identity in engineering. Drawing on theories of situated learning and identity development, her work includes studies on the teaching and learning of communication, effective teaching practices in design education, the effects of differing design pedagogies on retention and motivation, the dynamics of cross-disciplinary collaboration in both academic and industry design environments, and gender and identity in engineering.
Capstone Design Hub: Building the Capstone Design Community
2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
Her research focuses on communication in engineering design, interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, design education, and gender in engineering. She was awarded a CAREER grant from NSF to study expert teaching practices in capstone design courses nationwide, and is Co-PI on several NSF grants to explore design education. Her work includes studies on the teaching and learning of communication in capstone courses, the effects of curriculum on design cognition, the effects of differing design pedagogies on retention and motivation, and the dynamics of cross-disciplinary collaboration in both academic and industry design environments.
This paper reviews some recent major changes made to the Senior Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Program at UBC. The program now consists of a two-term senior level design sequence where student teams work on open-ended design problems sponsored by outside clients. In order to reinforce relevance and ensure that practices parallel those of industry, the Department recruited local senior engineers to serve as engineering mentors to the students and work in concert with the course instructors. Several milestones were established during the duration of the program year to reinforce good design practice beginning from an agreement on client needs and proceeding through concept generation, selection, analysis and finally ending with prototype construction and evaluation. The paper highlights the improvements made to the program as a result of these changes and presents an example of a student design project developed under the new model.
2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
Boulder. She is also the Design Center Colorado Director of Undergraduate Programs and a Senior Instructor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She received B.S. and M.S degrees in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. Kotys-Schwartz has focused her research in engineering student learning, retention, and student identity development within the context of engineering design. She is currently investigating the impact of cultural norms in an engineering classroom context, performing comparative studies between engineering education and professional design practices, examining holistic approaches to student retention, and exploring informal learning in engineering education.
Enhancing Capstone Design Courses Through Graduate Student Mentoring and Leadership Development
seniordesign.engr.uidaho.edu
Graduate education is highly focused on the development of technical and analytical skills, but typically provides minimal experience in team formation and interpersonal growth. To assure a more balanced graduate school experience, Idaho Engineering Works (IEW) at the University of Idaho is formed of a diverse group of graduate students whose purpose is to develop an environment that fosters professional as well as technical excellence. This paper analyzes IEW actions taken each year to form a well-trained, collaborative, and highly-reflective cohort of graduate students that support design education. This team is developed through directed study courses, team projects, personal reflections and monumental technical and interpersonal challenges. Over the course of the last ten years, the IEW has been successful in delivering hardware that exceeds expectations of industry customers, shortening time frames required for large-scale design projects, enriching senior design mentoring, and expanding the number of members. Each academic year produces a unique engineering leadership experience that has lifetime impact for its members and a legacy of improved infrastructure for design education. In this paper, the teamwork model of Larson and LaFasto is used to reflect on the people, strategy, and operations that form the IEW. This analysis is useful in revealing why IEW has been successful and how it might evolve to become an even more formidable force for design education at the University of Idaho.
Transfer from Capstone Design: A Model to Facilitate Student Reflection
2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
Smith College, where she coordinates and teaches the capstone engineering design course. Her current research focuses on innovations in engineering design education, particularly at the capstone level. She is also involved with efforts to foster design learning in middle school students and to support entrepreneurship at primarily undergraduate institutions. Her background is in civil engineering with a focus on structural materials; she holds a B.S.E. degree from Princeton, and M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell.