The purpose of this work-in-progress is to share preliminary results of student responses to a stakeholder-focused engineering design task. Engineering design is a complex process that requires engineers to go beyond solely meeting technical design constraints. How a design interacts within the environment and society is a crucial aspect that also needs to be taken into account early within the design process. Moreover, considering stakeholder needs and limits throughout the design process is an integral part of reducing risks and assuring the coherent success of a design. This work-in-progress is a part of a larger longitudinal study that explores the experiences of mechanical engineering undergraduates in a two-course Senior Design course sequence. In particular, this paper presents preliminary results of an analysis of students’ consideration of stakeholders within their own design process as they address an engineering design task. Data was collected across two semesters from 97 students within a large public university. Students completed a survey which included an open-ended submarine design scenario. Although students’ design considerations varied, a trend of students prioritizing vehicle specific factors and constraints over stakeholder considerations was apparent. Additionally, students’ total breadth of considerations decreased or experienced little change across the course sequence. Overall, this work-in-progress describes preliminary results of the students’ responses in hopes of providing insight into how students’ consideration of stakeholders evolves within a design course. The overarching objective is to gain a more comprehensive understanding of students’ design approach and the pedagogical and individual factors that impact it.
Indhira María Hasbún is a Ph.D. candidate and Graduate Assistant in the School of Universal Computing, Construction, and Engineering Education (SUCCEED) at Florida International University (FIU). Her research analyzes the interplay between institutional structures, culture, and agents at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) to identify how colleges of engineering at HSIs can leverage their institutional systems toward educational transformation as they pursue their goals of serving undergraduate Latinx engineering students.
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4988-361X
Florida International University
[biography]
As an assistant professor of engineering education at Florida International University, Dr. Alexandra Coso Strong works and teaches at the intersection of engineering education, faculty development, and complex systems design. Alexandra completed her doctorate in aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech. Prior to attending Georgia Tech, Alexandra received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from MIT and a master’s degree in systems engineering from the University of Virginia. Alexandra comes to FIU after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Georgia Tech’s Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) and three years as a faculty member at Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts. Alexandra’s research aims to improve the design of educational experiences for students by critically examining the work and learning environments of practitioners. Specifically, she focuses on (1) how to design and change educational and work systems through studies of practicing engineers and educators and (2) how to help students transition into, through and out of educational and work systems.
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