Kenneth L. Gentili

A process oriented class in engineering design: how it works

This paper describes techniques that are used in competency-based, introductory engineering design courses. Material used in the course has been produced and developed by the TIDEE (Transferable Integrated Design in Engineering Education) coalition, an NSF sponsored project with principal investigators at Washington State University, Tacoma Community College and the University of Washington. The course develops creative problem solving techniques, communication and teamwork skills. It emphasizes process improvement rather than evaluating the product and results. This provides an opportunity for students to take risks, try new approaches and gain confidence.

An engineering design summer camp for a diverse group of high school students

Engineering design is fundamental to all areas of engineering education. It takes shape as project-based learning. As a facts-based approach becomes integrated with a hands-on, learning-to-solve-problems approach, engineering design is a perfect vehicle for this integration. TIDEE (Transferable Integrated Design in Engineering Education) is an NSF grant involving Washington State University, the University of Washington, Tacoma Community College, and the Washington Council for Engineering and Related Technical Education (WCERTE). TIDEE aims to establish a flexible engineering design structure, prepare faculty to use and develop new engineering design materials, and increase the diversity of engineering enrollment. The TIDEE summer science camp is funded by both the NSF (National Science Foundation), as part of the TIDEE coalition, and the Boeing Company. The camp is funded for four annual summer sessions. The TIDEE summer science camp introduces a group of high school students to engineering design. The TIDEE camp works well. The team-based, cooperative, hands-on activities appeal to the campers. The activities are planned for success in a safe supportive environment. Teaching assistants, graduate students, instructors, and professors are good role models in engineering, tours expand their career horizons and campers acquire competencies in all aspects of engineering design. The awards banquet brings campers and their families together to understand and appreciate what is gained from the TIDEE camp.

Assessing students design capabilities in an introductory design class

Through the TIDEE (Transferable Integrated Design Engineering Education) project, assessment tools and performance criteria have been developed to quantify student achievement in the engineering design process, teamwork skills and design communication skills. A seven-point scale describes performance levels spanning from entering engineering students to professional design engineers. Mid-program assessment tools were used to assess student achievement of engineering design capabilities during introductory classes in engineering design. Assessment results describe the level of a typical entering students knowledge and performance in engineering design. These results also indicate that students can reach engineering design achievement targets set for the mid-point of an engineering degree program when the preparatory learning environment is a well-structured outcomes-based design curriculum.

TIDEE: the first year of a design engineering educational partnership for Washington State

TIDEE (Transferable Integrated Design Engineering Education) is an NSF sponsored partnership of four year universities and community colleges in the state of Washington. TIDEEs focus is to develop a unified vision of design competencies required for first and second year university students. This competency based design education will be shared by all of the community colleges and four year universities in the state of Washington. The competencies have been developed through workshops and then assigned to categories and levels of achievement.

Statewide endorsement of design in Washington

The statewide organization of engineering programs in Washington, Washington Council for Engineering and Related Technical Education (WCERTE) has endorsed the incorporation of design education into the first two years of engineering and engineering technology curricula. This design education includes the development of competence in communication, teamwork and the creative problem solving or engineering design process. Each institution is to determine for itself in which class or classes the desired educational outcomes for design education are to be achieved. This paper discusses the categories of competencies for design and to what level each competency is to be achieved by the end of the first two years of the program. It also discusses how faculty from a variety of institutions helped to define the competencies and levels of achievement which have been accepted. The endorsement will help to ensure that students who transfer within the state will enter the junior year with some design background upon which to build additional competence in the final two years of their engineering program. The effort to seek the endorsement was led by the PIs for the Transferable Integrated Design Engineering Education (TIDEE) project which is funded by NSF, Division of Undergraduate Education.