This project aims to transfer, through workshops to graduate students and faculty, studio models for teaching engineering design in a way that effectively integrates technical, social/cultural, and aesthetic issues. This model is based on Rensselaer Polytechnic's (RPI) NSF funded interdisciplinary Product Design and Innovation Program and Deep Dive design exercises.
Recent changes in ABET put an emphasis on design as a critical component of the engineering curriculum. The ABET Strategic Plan intends to "Recognize programs that promote educational quality and innovation by identify(ing) and disseminat(ing) educational best practices; Cooperate with other organizations to develop programs that promote educational quality and innovation; Expand diversity of participation by increase(ing) the numbers of those historically under-represented in ABET to reflect the full spectrum of participants in the engineering community; Encourage and accommodate new educational paradigms." These are the premises for this proposal.
The first phase workshops include Hampton University (HU), a master's university, with a deep commitment to undergraduate education and diversity activism and the University of Colorado (UC), a doctoral/research state university with a strong foundation in problem-based learning. The second stage workshops are open to applicants from other interested institutions. RPI, using experienced engineering, social science, and architecture faculty, will deliver the workshop sessions and associated support to help develop and deliver these studios. This project updates best practices of normative and cross-disciplinary design education; and develops and implements models for dissemination and distribution to colleague institutions.
