Abstract
The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota has developed a new engineering design curriculum to meet the pedagogical needs of undergraduate mechanical engineering students and which could also serve as a model for design education at large state universities. The major outcome was the creation of a core lower division course, Introduction to Engineering, which now has an enrollment of just under 200 students per year. The course has a hands-on approach and students learn engineering fundamentals and specific engineering skills through a series of dissection and design assignments. Resources were developed to allow students to fabricate their design projects at home and to use the Web rather than course staff as a first source of information and guidance. In this way cost and teaching staff for the course were minimized. The course has completed its third year and has gathered anecdotal evidence of success.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 123-129 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings |
| State | Published - Dec 1 1999 |
| Event | 1999 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition: Engineering Education to Serve the World - Cahrlotte, NC, United States Duration: Jun 20 1999 → Jun 23 1999 |