Hello Sandra,
Concerning design courses in undergraduate engineering programs – in my Faculty we have one 1st year course with groups of 4-5 within a total number of 70 or less.
Our 3 programs are mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering with common course curriculum until the second half of first year.
Each of these programs also has a final year project course (PFE) which is worth 6 credits (electrical) or 12 credits (civil, mechanical); these are done in groups of 4-5 people typically.
Electrical also has two additional project courses – one each in the third and fourth year of our 5-year undergraduate engineering program. The other programs use "mini-projects" within the other required courses during the same period.
Our graduating classes are about 50 students (across the 3 programs).
Hope this helps your reflection.
Nancy L. Black, Ph.D., Ing., CCPE*
Vice-doyenne de la Faculté d'ingénierie
et Professeure agrégée, département de génie mécanique
128G1 Faculté d'ingénierie;
18, avenue Antonine Maillet
1-506-858-4000 x 4079
Nancy.black@umoncton.ca
https://www.umoncton.ca/prof/umcm-black_nancy
*CCPE = Certification canadienne de praticienne en ergonomie
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Original Message:
Sent: 3/5/2023 10:45:00 PM
From: Sandra Garrett
Subject: System Design Courses
I'm wondering how many other universities have a project-based design course that students take earlier in their curriculum than their senior year? For example Clemson University's two Industrial Engineering System Design courses were originally designed to be taken during the student's sophomore and senior years. This allowed the project type of design classes to "bookend" the student's IE curriculum.
For other schools who have design courses taken during either the sophomore or junior years, I'm wondering how large those classes are? (What is the enrollment capacity?) Our program has grown dramatically over the past 5-10 years, and I'm looking for other similar courses to see how they are designed... and whether they've been able to scale up to a larger enrollment? Or whether the schools offer multiple sections of the same class to keep the sections smaller.
I'm currently teaching our System Design 1 class and have shifted it back to have more of a Human-Centered Design focus, but that also has seemed to increase the time necessary to develop the interactions with students. If anyone would like to reach out to chat with me directly, I'd be very interested in what is being done at your university. (You can contact me at garrett@clemson.edu.)
Thanks,
~Sandra Garrett
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Sandra Garrett
Clemson SC
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