Using Course Projects to Infuse Innovation Throughout the Undergraduate Experience in the Engineering and Engineering Technology Curriculum

Abstract

Abstract Using Course Projects to Infuse Innovation throughout the Undergraduate Experience in the Engineering and Engineering Technology CurriculumABSTRACTEngineering and Engineering Technology students need to learn how to innovate and embrace newtechnologies as they develop and progress through their careers. Accomplishing this challenge requiresthe undergraduate degree programs to provide the first opportunities for innovative solutions totechnological problems to gain experience and confidence before they reach their Capstone course. Thispaper describes the learning experiences in innovation that we use at our institution in undergraduatecourses in Robotics and Automation, Finite Element Analysis, Parametric Modeling and RapidPrototyping. The courses are composed of Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Mechanical EngineeringTechnology (MET) students. The paper relates the successful attempts the students have had indeveloping and using innovation through the creation of open-ended projects in these three courses. Theundergraduate student project teams in each course are self-directed and have to use innovation todevelop a project of their own design within the course constraints. This breaks the cycle of students justdoing the same preset experiments that others have done before them. Although doing preset experimentscan reinforce the theoretical concepts given in the classroom, it does little to develop skills in innovation,which will be the key to success in the global economy. The courses used in our ME and MET programsprovide an excellent framework for the students to demonstrate their ability to innovate using newtechnology to solve a complex engineering problem. The projects are also supervised by instructors asstudents take their first steps in actually doing innovation. The confidence and process used to solve thesetechnical problems will provide a basis upon which they can formulate new strategies to incorporate newtechnologies throughout their career. Using this new approach will help our students gain confidence inreaching out to use new technologies and innovation early in their career.