Design First: A Multimedia Freshman Engineering Design Experience

建议对哥伦比亚大学一年级必修的“工程学导论”课程进行实质性重组，强调多媒体设计案例研究和项目。这样的重组是为了提高课程中教授的计算机、组织、团队合作和设计技能，也是为了吸引、激励和留住尽可能多的学生。这项提议为其他机构引人注目的重组工作增加了三个重要和创新的特点。首先，课程和设计问题将在虚拟的多媒体环境中展示和执行。虽然已经做了大量的工作来重新阐述新生的设计经验和开发多媒体工具，但这两项努力以前并没有结合到一起来持续努力。我们相信，这一共同努力将改善课程的内容和可移植性。我们也相信这就是设计需要的方式，并最终将被教授。第二，形成性评估和终结性评估都将由哥伦比亚师范学院学习技术研究所的经验丰富的专业人员进行，作为课程开发和评估的组成部分。这项活动将确保开发的多媒体工具是有效的教育工具。第三，将通过广泛的多媒体案例研究，将工程设计艺术的社会和历史方面联系起来。提案的第三个方面将使学生有意义地接触到现实世界中的跨学科设计问题，这些问题在工程课程中经常被忽视，可能有助于吸引非工程专业的学生学习这门课程。这是哥伦比亚大学工程与应用科学学院和哥伦比亚大学师范学院的联合提案，课程开发和评估并重。课程和多媒体工具将在哥伦比亚大学的第一年半以及其他几个机构的第二和第三年进行整合、测试和评估。德雷克塞尔大学已经承诺参与该项目，目前正在寻求进一步的承诺。NSF表格1358(1/94)

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)