A Student Assessment of the Value of a Redesigned First Year Mechanical Engineering Orientation Course

Abstract

ME 100L (Mechanical Engineering Orientation) is a one-unit introductory lab course required by all incoming mechanical engineering students at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, with an enrollment of approximately 400 per year.Prior to 2014, ME 100L was a general orientation course with a curriculum that did not change significantly for almost two decades.Starting in Fall 2014, a new curriculum was implemented that exposes students to the Arduino microcontroller, robot building, sensors, DC motors, C programming, CAD modeling, and 3D printing.The primary objective of the redesigned course was to excite incoming students, provide them with an engaging, hands-on experience, and help them acquire useful and transferable skills.From this perspective, the redesign has been a great success as prior surveys indicated that students enjoy the new course.A detailed analysis of the redesign and survey results were presented at the