Building Bridges to a Better Engineering Design Education Experience

Abstract

In the Fall 2010 semester, Mount Royal University’s Engineering Transfer Program ran its first version of a new Engineering Design course that combined two term courses into one. The course consisted of integrated Technical Writing, Technical Drawing and Sketching, and Design elements. The Design element, consisting of three hours/week of in-class activities, focused on the introduction of elements of the design process, activities to expose students to the real-life aspects of each stage of the process, and a term project that brought all elements of the course together in one real-life application. The term project was the (re)design of a pedestrian footbridge on the Mount Royal (MRU) campus. The existing bridge, approximately 3.5 m long by 2 m wide, spans a man-made gulley and joins two parts of a pedestrian walkway. Relevant MRU grounds staff were involved in the project as clients and more than 100 students worked in small groups (3-5 members each) to design and then build a 1/3rd scale model of their bridge design using a somewhat constrained materials list and basic wood shop facilities. Components of the project were also integrated with other courses in the curriculum, such as Statics. This paper details the logistics of the course and of the project, as well as the lessons learned in terms of things that worked well and those that did not. Overall, the project was deemed a solid success based on feedback from students, clients and instructors. This kind of project could also be carried out at other Canadian university campuses with minimal alterations.