Engineering Design Students Research Articles

Capstone Engineering Design: Project Process and Reviews (Student Engineering Design Workbook)

Abstract Capstone Design: Project Process and Reviews (Student Engineering Design Workbook) provides a brief overview of the design process as well as templates, tools, and student design notes. Th...

A novel user-based gesture vocabulary for conceptual design

Research into hand gestures for human computer interaction has been prolific recently, but within it research on hand gestures for conceptual design has either focused on gestures that were defined by the researchers rather than the users, or those that were heavily influenced by what can be achieved using currently available technology. This paper reports on the study performed to identify a user elicited vocabulary of gestures for conceptual design, disassociated from the currently available technology, and its subsequent evaluation. The study included 44 product design engineering students (3rd, 4th year and recent graduates) and identified 1772 gestures that were analysed to build a novel gesture consensus set of vocabulary of hand gestures for conceptual design. This set is then evaluated by 10 other professionals, in order to generalise this set for a wider range of users and possibly reduce the need for training. The evaluation has shown that majority of gestures added to the vocabulary were easy to perform and appropriate for the activities, but that at the implementation stage the vocabulary will require another round of evaluation to account for the technology capabilities. The aim of this work is to create a starting point for a potential future system that could adapt to individual designers and allow them to use non-prescribed gestures that will support rather than inhibit their conceptual design thinking processes, akin to the developments that happened in hand writing recognition or predictive texting.

University Support, Teaching Competencies and Entrepreneurial Competencies in Software Engineering and Graphic Design Students

The objective of this research was to evaluate how university support and teaching entrepreneurial competencies affect students' entrepreneurial com-petencies. As an empirical test, a sample of 201 software engineering and graphic design students from a university in Northwest Mexico was taken, where it was possible to corroborate three hypotheses. The results suggest that entrepreneurial competencies are influenced by external aspects, where the university can be understood as an open system, but also, as a part of a wider system within the triple helix. This shows that the joint work between the contextual and individual part can benefit the generation of innovation and development for society, especially in a country where there is a lack of R&D, although the practice of entrepreneurship is high. As a result, the uni-versity can play a relevant role when developing entrepreneurial competen-cies to train students to become entrepreneurs through innovation and tech-nology.

The cognitive experience of engineering design: an examination of first-year student stress across principal activities of the engineering design process

AbstractThe engineering design process can produce stress that endures even after it has been completed. This may be particularly true for students who engage with the process as novices. However, it is not known how individual components of the design process induce stress in designers. This study explored the cognitive experience of introductory engineering design students during concept generation, concept selection and physical modelling to identify stress signatures for these three design activities. Data were collected for the design activities using pre- and post-task surveys. Each design activity produced distinct markers of cognitive experience and a unique stress signature that was stable across design activity themes. Rankings of perceived sources of stress also differed for each design activity. Students, however, did not perceive any physiological changes due to the stress of design for any of the design activities. Findings indicate that physical modelling was the most stressful for students, followed by concept generation and then concept selection. Additionally, recommendations for instructors of introductory engineering design courses were provided to help them apply the results of this study. Better understanding of the cognitive experience of students during design can support instructors as they learn to better teach design.

Effect of the application of circularity requirements as guided questions on the creativity and the circularity of the design outcomes

Implementation of the circular economy is beginning to become a reality and the early stages of product design are crucial for a proper adoption of the circular model. However, several studies claim that sustainability requirements usually decrease creativity. Therefore, it is necessary to help designers to think in a more circular manner and, at the same time, not compromising the creativity.In this research, we study if creativity and circularity of the design outcomes change depending on whether circular requirements are applied as guided questions during the idea generation. For this purpose, an experiment has been carried out in which 20 engineering design students’ teams propose a novel idea for a product. Half of the teams received some circular economy requirements in the form of explicit guided questions, while the other half did not. The novelty, usefulness and feasibility of the design outcomes are assessed to measure creativity. Circularity is determined by accounting the number of items to slow, close and narrow loops at each design proposal.The results indicate that explicitly introducing guided questions leads to no significant differences in creativity or circularity. However, it does lead to more dispersed circularity results. So, applying circular requirements explicitly in the form of guided questions does not worse creativity in comparison to when these requirements are implicit.This work offers new results on the effect of circular requirements in the generation of ideas. These findings are useful for the management of design teams in companies and also for design teaching.

What motivates our design students during COVID-19?

This article presents empirical findings and recommendations from a survey of 100 industrial design engineering students from the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. The article adopts a self-deterministic motivation lens to present findings from a qualitative survey (N=100 respondents) and two member check workshops with design students and educators regarding motivations to study during COVID-19 restrictions. We identify that COVID-19 lockdown measures compromise three psychological prerequisites for motivation: ‘relatedness’, ‘autonomy’ and ‘competency’. We find that resilient students who have a sense of ‘purpose’ remain highly motivated. The article reveals creative approaches students are applying to build and sustain motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article contributes recommendations for educators and administrators to promote student motivation in pandemic and post-pandemic higher education. This article contributes novel insights regarding how students in particular are remaining motivated to study during COVID-19.

Active Learning Classes (in KOSEN Colleges of Japan) Using ICT and Tools for Obtaining Biological Information to Enhance the Creativity of Engineering Design Students

Abstract For this study, instructors carried out active learning classes using tools to obtain biological information. Due to the constrained conditions for their use, students proposed their own projects and successfully carried them out on their own. The students belonged to two groups: one was for17 year old students and the other was for the students 19 years of age. Both groups displayed good creativity and engineering design capabilities. However, there was a clear difference between the two groups. The older students had more quantitative and application-related capabilities. We could confirm that the age demographic in KOSEN education was very sensitive for the improvement of creative engineering design capability.

The effects of autistic traits and academic degree on visuospatial abilities

In the present study, we were interested to investigate how autistic traits (including systemizing and empathy) and academic degree influence individuals' visuospatial abilities. To this end, 352 university students completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), the Empathy Quotient, the Systemizing Quotient (SQ) and visuospatial tests measuring figure disembedding and mental rotation of two-dimensional figures. Engineering-design students (architecture and engineering) were the most accurate in disembedding and mentally rotating figures, followed by students of physical sciences (computer science, chemistry, physics, etc.) and fact-based humanities (languages, classics, law); biological (psychology and neuroscience, etc.) and systems-based social scientists (economics and commerce) were the least accurate. Engineering-design students also showed higher SQ scores with respect to the other four academic degree subjects, with students of biological sciences showing lower SQ scores. Importantly, results from a path analysis revealed that SQ (but not AQ) exerted an indirect effect on figure disembedding and mental rotations through the influence of the academic degree. Thus, the present findings reveal shadydifferences in systemizing degree and visuospatial performance withinsystemizing-based degree subjects.Implications for education are discussed.

A NEW FIELD EXERCISE FOR EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN COASTAL ENGINEERING

A new field exercise is developed for a technical course in coastal engineering. This exercise consists of detailed wave measurements surrounding a newly designed coastal structure, with the objective of improving learning by situating student engineering design skills into a real-world context. Students integrated the field measurement results with estimates of the wave conditions developed from predictive equations and a computer model. The written deliverable requires students to critically assess the data and model results acquired from different sources. They were evaluated using a rubric designed to assess cognitive and communication skills. The exercise mimics what engineers do in practice, and helps students learn how to approach real problems in coastal engineering.

Assessing the Authenticity of the Student Learning Experience

AbstractAuthentic learning is an approach to teaching where the learning is embedded in a real world context, in real situations or simulations, and offers students opportunities for problem solving challenges much like they will encounter in real life. This paper discusses and reflects upon the development a course designed to teach Socially Responsible Design approaches, methods and tools to Product Design Engineering students using global projects. Our research question was to investigate if this Socially Responsible Design course, it's structure, delivery, learning activities and assessments combined to deliver an authentic learning experience. Through informal interviews with staff, review of student reflections, review of university student feedback comments and consideration of final outcomes, all within the framework of Herrington and Oliver's nine elements of authentic learning, we found that this course did provide an authentic learning experience for many reasons. This study offers academics a frame work for reviewing existing and future courses with a view to creating or enhancing authentic learning experiences using project based learning

The Role of Rhetoric in Engineering Judgment

Introduction: ABET has approved changes to the EAC's Criterion 3 that will take effect for the 2019-2020 accreditation cycle. Among many changes and rearrangements is the introduction of the term “engineering judgment” as one of the competencies that students must develop to prepare for professional engineering. Literature review: However, engineering judgment is not defined in the criterion, and although it is a ubiquitous concept in the philosophy of engineering and engineering education, little empirical investigation has been undertaken into the practice of engineering judgment. And there is even less conceptual or empirical investigation into communication's role in the practice of engineering judgment. Research questions: 1. What does engineering judgment look like in practice? 2. How does the sociotechnical situation affect engineering judgment? 3. What role does rhetoric have, not only in communicating judgments, but informing them as well? 4. How can teachers and practitioners in engineering and technical communication use these findings to facilitate better judgment in the classroom and at work? Methods: Using videotape and fieldnotes, the author examines the two sequences of decision-making from a student engineering design project. An ethnomethodologically inspired framework is used to exhibit the phenomenal details of “doing” engineering judgment. Discussion/conclusion: Data reveal that engineering judgment may be fruitfully understood by educators as not just a cognitive and individual ability to apply technical knowledge, but instead a capacity of participants to rhetorically establish common cause to interrogate and reflect on the relations between technical data and situations.

Teaching risk-taking to engineering design students needs risk-taking

Creativity is essential in the engineering design process to achieve innovative results. However, research has consistently shown that among the many factors that foster creativity in engineering education, one of the most central requirements is risk-taking, which is not widely covered in engineering design education. This article attempts to understand the risk-taking approach in an engineering design education environment both from the students’ and the instructors’ perspective by conducting a qualitative comparative study in an Australian University. Overall, the study finds that instructors’ teaching method has an influence on students’ approach towards risk-taking. The evidence shows that engineering instructors are risk adverse and hesitate to adopt new approaches in education. However, fostering creativity in education requires a creative approach, which is possible through risk-taking. Encouraging engineering students to adopt a risk-taking approach during the design process is not possible until the engineering instructors and engineering faculties are willing to take risks in their own teaching methods.

Comparing the Effects of Design Interventions on the Quality of Design Concepts as a Reflection of Ideation Flexibility

Many tools, techniques, and other interventions have been developed to support idea generation within the design process. In previous research, we explored the separate effects of three such design interventions: teaming, problem framing, and design heuristics. In the teaming intervention, participants discussed a design prompt together but recorded their own ideas separately. In problem framing, multiple versions (framings) of each design prompt were used to elicit different solutions. In design heuristics, participants used specially designed cards to prompt new ways of thinking about the given design problem. In the current work, we compared the effects of these three interventions on students' design ideas with respect to one idea attribute in particular—quality. In total, 1088 design concepts were collected from 171 undergraduate students in engineering and industrial design from two universities. Individual cognitive style was also assessed using Kirton's Adaption–Innovation inventory (KAI). Six metrics taken from the design literature were used to assess the quality of each concept, namely: acceptability, applicability, clarity, effectiveness, implementability, and implicational explicitness. Paired t-tests and Pearson correlations were used to assess differences in quality between concepts generated with and without the three interventions; in addition, secondary effects were sought based on the cognitive styles and academic standings of the participants. Statistically significant differences were observed in design concept quality for the teaming and design heuristics interventions over the full sample and for some subgroups separated by cognitive style and academic standing. These results have implications for how educators teach design interventions and how students choose and apply interventions to affect the quality of their own design solutions.

Experiential Learning vs Systematic Prescriptions in Engineering Design: A Crossroads for Education

The systematic, non-experiential prescriptions of classical design methodology continue to have a strong presence in large segments of design research and education while another segment sees domain experience and consequent intuition and creativity as being key to successful design. In this paper the two approaches are outlined and the empirical research literature in human behaviour is employed to discern discrepancies and potential weaknesses. Results show that gaining experience in a domain intrinsically changes how one designs, which the classical methodology does not account for. For example, only designers with tactile and visual domain experience can abstract functions per the dictates of the classical (non-experiential) methodology, which means that they cannot have used the methodology to learn basic design in the first place – or did so only with great difficulty. This and other conflicts pose problems for the education of engineering design students, and to fathom their extent this paper surveys engineering design textbooks offered in Canada and the U. S.; all of the books are found to embrace the classical methodology. If they are to remain involved in preparing students for entry into industry then some aspects of their contained classical methodology must be supplanted by experiential approaches to design educatio

The perioperative patient experience of hand and wrist surgical patients: An exploratory study using patient journey mapping

Patient-centred care is becoming more important in healthcare. The success of patient-centred care can be assessed by exploring the patient experience through a patient journey map. As the number of outpatient surgeries is increasing, it is important to reveal the specific characteristics of this type of surgery. The perioperative patient experience is considered very important for outpatient surgery, because all perioperative activities are condensed in one day. To investigate this experience, we performed a case study of hand and wrist surgery. Six teams of two industrial design engineering students interviewed 40 patients in total in two private and two public hospitals in the Netherlands. All teams created a patient journey map, describing the patient experience. These maps were analysed by the authors to identify common themes among the six journeys. Four time-independent themes and four time-dependent themes were identified. Insecurity, reassurance by staff, loneliness, and lack of information were associated with the whole patient experience. Before surgery, lack of control was the most prominent experience. During surgery, acceptance and curiosity were present. After surgery, relief was the dominant experience. No significant differences between the public and private hospitals were discovered. Several suggestions are given on how to facilitate positive experiences and how to resolve negative experiences in outpatient surgery. These include suggestions for hospital policy and design interventions.

Creativity and meaning: including meaning as a component of creative solutions

AbstractThe goal of this paper is to examine meaning as a component of creativity. We take a demand-based approach for conceptualizing meaning, and propose that it emerges from user needs instead of emerging from already existing creative solutions. Meaning is proposed as a third component of creativity, alongside novelty and usefulness. We test this proposition in a pre-study, and two empirical studies. In the pre-study, designers define creativity and provide examples of solutions that they deem creative. The results of the pre-study yield a 24-item scale for assessing creativity. Then, we conduct two empirical studies, in which we utilize the created scale for measuring creativity, and for examining the components arising thereof. In the first study, we ask creators (design engineering students) to generate ideas for one of two design briefs. Afterwards, creators were asked to rate their own creations, on the 24-item creativity scale. Here, we find a four-factor solution for creative outcomes, consisting of the dimensions novelty, usefulness, cleverness, and meaning. In the second study, we ask independent evaluators (individuals with related and relevant degrees) to assess the creators’ work on the creativity scale. Here, we find a three-factor solution for creative outcomes, consisting of the dimensions novelty, usefulness, and meaning. In both studies, meaning emerged as a separate component of creativity. Additionally, in both studies, it accounted for variance that was unaccounted for by novelty and usefulness, thereby increasing the overall explanatory power of creative solutions. These findings strongly speak of meaning as a third component of creativity.

Educating for a systems design approach to complex societal problems

ABSTRACTDesign education has devoted little attention to the topic of societal systems transformation in the context of sustainable development. This paper reports on a master‘s-level course that aims to build the capacity for design engineering students to adopt a Systems Design Approach comprised of the integration of Product-Service System (PSS) and Systems Thinking, in order to develop sustainable energy systems concepts. We identify key factors for skilful performance when designing solutions for complex societal problems. The findings suggest that design approaches grounded in systems thinking are promising for dealing with the increasing complexity of the societal problems which future generations of design professionals are expected to solve. An Open Learning E-Package (OLEP) was offered to support Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to introduce Product-Services Systems and Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) models into their design curricula. We argue that capacity building for a systems design approach to complex societal problems, such as those faced in low-income energy markets, can support future generations of design engineers to take an active role in the development and widespread implementation of sustainable energy systems.

Integration of Micro Design-Build-Test Projects in Instructor-Centered Courses to Increase Student Confidence

The growing demand for highly skilled graduates coupled with institutional mandates to reduce minimum graduation credit hour requirements is compelling higher educators to optimize the deployment strategy of high-impact pedagogical practices to maintain their broad educational learning outcomes. In this case study, a micro design-build-test project is deployed at the first, second, and third academic years, respectively, to increase student engineering design confidence, motivation, communication ability, analytical skills, and computer competency. The projects are rooted in constructionist learning theory and project-based learning pedagogy. Students work with engineering and computer-assisted design software, three-dimensional printers, mechanical testing equipment, spreadsheets, Microsoft PowerPoint, and word processors. The microtreatment lasts between 2 and 3 weeks. These projects are designed for integration within traditional instructor-centered courses and are shown to significantly increase student confidence and motivation, especially in female students. The results presented here indicate that engineering design self-confidence can be significantly impacted with a short-term microtreatment that is relatively less time-consuming to prepare than a complete pedagogical transformation.

Use of Citizen Science to Improve Student Experience in Engineering Design, Manufacturing and Sustainability Education

This study used the unrealized potential of citizen science as an innovative educational tool with the aim of enhancing research and learning experience of students in several engineering design and manufacturing courses with a particular focus on sustainability-related topics. Citizen science has been employed as a data collection and educational tool in two engineering courses at the University at Buffalo in which students were tasked with reporting examples of good and bad designs they observe in their everyday life. The results revealed the significant potential of citizen scientists to report innovative and informative design and manufacturing ideas.

A Student’s Axiomatic Design Application Example of Battery Thermal Controller for High Altitude Balloon

The axiomatic design plays a critical role in transferring FRs into DPs and organising scattered design information. Nowadays, the axiomatic design is commonly applied to student engineering design education. Although it assists design organisation, some procedures can be challenging for invoice students. This paper is written to reflect benefits, challenges and potential mistakes when the axiomatic design is applied by invoice students. The reflection is based on a case study, a student lead battery thermal controller (BTC) on a high-altitude balloon is used as the example. Relevant background about the high-altitude balloon was introduced at first. Previous essential information of customer domain and functional domain was clarified before the axiomatic design. Design parameters(DPs) were generated with Morphological Chart to compose candidate concepts. FR-DP matrix was used to evaluate the independence of functional requirements(FRs). Candidate concepts were then selected by probability density function graphs. The most proper concept then was out of Pugh’s Matrix. Through this axiomatic design application, benefits, challenges and potential mistakes were reflected for invoice students. Benefits included convenient errors correction and competent concepts generation. Challenges contain the DPs performance value determination and physical integration of concept. Potential mistakes include generation of inconsistent performance value for bottom-level FRs and invalid DPs.