Design First: A Multimedia Freshman Engineering Design Experience

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A substantial restructuring of the required first year "Introduction to Engineering" course at Columbia University is proposed that emphasizes multimedia design case studies and projects. Such restructuring is needed to improve the computer, organizational, teamwork, and design skills taught in the course and also to attract, motivate, and retain as many students as possible. This proposal adds three important and innovative features to the notable restructuring efforts at other institutions. First, the course and the design problems will be presented and executed in a virtual, multimedia environment. Although significant work has been done to reformulate the freshman design experience and to develop multimedia tools, these two thrusts have not previously been combined into a single sustained effort. We believe this combined effort will improve the content and portability of the course. We also believe this is how design needs to be and eventually will be taught. Second, both formative and summative evaluations will be conducted by experienced professionals from the Institute for Learning Technologies at Columbia's Teachers College as an integral part of the development and assessment of the course. This activity will ensure that the multimedia tools developed are effective educational tools. Third, the social and historical aspects of the art of engineering design will be contextualized through extensive multimedia case studies. This third aspect of the proposal will give students a meaningful exposure to real-world, interdisciplinary design problems that is often neglected in engineering curricula and may be instrumental in attracting non-engineering students to the course. This is a joint proposal between Columbia's School of Engineering and Applied Science and Columbia's Teachers College that gives equal weight to curriculum development and assessment. The curriculum and multimedia tools will be incorporated, tested, and evaluated in the first year and a half at Columbia and in the second and third years at several other institutions. Drexel University has already committed itself to the project and further commitments are being sought. NSF FORM 1358 (1/94)