Building Design Apps for Early Engineering Education

这个工程教育研究项目旨在开发一套模块化的、开源的应用程序，或“应用程序”来教授工程设计。该软件将被设计成允许在早期工程课程中简单地介绍设计问题。该项目的评估计划旨在衡量该软件在理解课程概念方面改善学生学习成果的有效性。这个项目更广泛的意义和重要性在于研究一种方法，以一种负担得起的方式将设计引入工程课程的早期课程。该项目旨在通过模仿一家流行的智能手机公司的“应用商店”来促进软件的广泛传播。这种方法是为了配合目标学生的经验而设计的。

This engineering education research project seeks to develop a set of modular, open-source applications, or "apps" to teach engineering design. The software will be designed to allow simple introduction of design problems into early-level engineering courses. The project's evaluation plan is designed to measure the effectiveness of the software for improving student learning outcomes on understanding course concepts.The broader significance and importance of this project is to investigate a method which can introduce design into early courses in an engineering curriculum in an affordable manner. The project seeks to promote broad dissemination of the software through an "app store" modeled off of a popular smart-phone company. This approach is designed to mesh with the experience of the target audience of students.