Improving Engineering Design Designing for Competitive Advantage (1991) / Chapter Skim
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3 Improving Engineering Design Education
3 Improving Engineering Design Education
Pages 35-49
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From page 35... ...
While these improvements were taking place, the state of engineering design education was steadily deteriorating with the result Mat today's engineering graduates are poorly equipped to utilize their scientific, mathematical, and analytical knowledge in the design of components, processes, and systems. Strengthening engineering design education is critical to the long-term development of engineers who are equipped to become good designers and leaders and who will provide a lasting foundation for U.S.
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From page 36... ...
Undergraduate Engineering Design Education Undergraduate engineering design education must: · show how the fundamental engineering science background is relevant to effective design; · teach students what the design process entails and familiarize them with the basic tools of the process; · demonstrate that design involves not just function but also producibility, cost, customer preference, and a variety of life cycle issues; and · convey the importance of other subjects such as mathematics, economics, and manufacturing. To achieve these goals, design must be distributed throughout the engineering curriculum, beginning with introductory design courses, which serve the dual purpose of introducing He design process and demonstrating the relevance of the engineering courses to design, and continuing as a part of the more advanced engineering courses.
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From page 37... ...
This requires sufficient space and communication capability for project teams to work together effectively and sometimes to carry paper projects to physical realization. Graduate Design Education Graduate design education should be directed toward: · developing competence in advanced design theory and methodology; familiarizing graduate students with state-of-the-art ideas in design, both from academic research and from worldwide industrial experience and research; · Providing students with working experience in design; .
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From page 38... ...
Undergraduate Programs Several recent reports and papers have pointed out deficiencies in design education and called for its strengthening.52 Employers of recent engineering graduates frequently commend many aspects of the graduates' performance, particularly their facility with analytical calculations and computers.s3 With the possible exception of writing and speaking, these employers find design to be the engineering graduates' most prominent weakness. Sometimes these complaints are voiced in terms of recent graduates "not understanding that costs are important" or "not realizing that someone has to make what they come up with and someone has to sell them" or "not realizing that this is a complex organization." The complaints may not use the term design, but they relate to knowledge that should be woven into the design parts of curricula.
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From page 39... ...
Engineering Sciences: 32 semester hours (12.5%) Engineering Design: 16 semester hours (12.5%)
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From page 40... ...
This is the same reluctance that gives rise to narrow courses such as "heat transfer design" and "control system design," which inspection usually shows to involve functional design almost exclusively, not even approaching the breadth of modern engineering design. Although many excellent design courses are taught, adequate design education requires a coordinated approach among several courses in the curriculum.
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From page 41... ...
These observations clearly reveal undergraduate engineering program shortcomings that relate to design ability. Few engineering graduates have been taught to expect continued learning to be part of their careers In job interviews, they seldom ask prospective employers about formal continuing education opportunities, though this should be a primary factor in evaluating an employer.
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From page 42... ...
Even the stronger programs rarely involve industry experience that would elucidate the realities of engineering design practice. Engineering design education cannot mature until strong graduate programs that focus on modern methodologies and the research needed to advance them begin to produce qualified graduates who are committed to design as a career.
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From page 43... ...
Although experienced teachers of modern design courses find the activity stimulating and rewarding, most engineering faculty members, being unfamiliar with design teaching, consider it difficult and do their best to avoid it. Others, familiar with the old, generally pedestrian, "cookbook" style of engineering design education and practice, perceive design to be an inferior enterprise.
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From page 44... ...
The general success of engineering faculty members in teaching engineering sciences may even motivate academics to further emphasize engineering sciences in curricula at the expense of engineering design. Beyond encouraging faculty members to avoid design teaching themselves, the reward system may further influence them to reduce curricular emphasis on design in order to reduce He total amount of design teaching required of their departments.
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From page 45... ...
If their primary metrics are numbers of faculty publications, dollar volume of research expenditures, and numbers of awards received by faculty members, Hey will expound on the relationship of these to educational objectives (and in publicly supported universities, to public service objectives)
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From page 46... ...
Only if strong leadership stresses the importance of design will faculty and administrators establish goals for improved design teaching. Input from industrial firms that are using modern product realization processes or concurrent engineering is essential in establishing goals.
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From page 47... ...
carefully appointed exclusively for the evaluation and improvement of design education, can provide effective guidance for on-campus change agents. Aiding Teachers of Design Even if universities were to change goals and institute rewards to make design teaching more attractive, there would still be a lack of adequate classroom and laboratory support materials, and most faculty would still require help to teach design effectively.
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From page 48... ...
On-campus training programs can also assist by providing both teaching materials and convenient continuing access to new information. Improving Universitv-Industry Interaction in Design Education Industrial firms employ engineering graduates in design, and best-practice companies provide extensive in-house training and have introduced into practice some advanced methods.
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From page 49... ...
Moreover, industrial experience should inspire faculty to recognize the intellectual challenge of design and to generalize from do~nain-specific design methods to the benefit of a wide range of companies. Summary Design education is clearly weak; it must receive increased emphasis and introduce modern practices if it is to educate engineers who will contribute' to the drive toward greater industrial competitiveness.
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