The Complexities and Benefits of Community-Partnered Projects for Engineering Capstone Design Students
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Institutional Context
1.2. Course Context: Engineering Capstone Design
1.3. Course Structure
- Problem Definition,
- Requirements,
- Ideation,
- Analysis,
- Critical Functioning Prototype, and
- Detailed Design.
1.4. Project Types and Selection
1.5. Community Projects and Team Members
- Food production project
- Five students (two men, three women): Andrew, Owen, Laura, Jessica, and Camille.
- Students were tasked with prototyping a small-scale sustainable food production system designed for implementation in a local community experiencing a food desert. The system should produce food and serve as an interactive educational model to teach community members how to replicate the model in their own settings.
- Youth outreach project
- Four students (all men): Rob, Derek, Drew, and Mark.
- Students were tasked with creating an engineering project to be used in a youth afterschool setting serving a demographic underrepresented in engineering higher education and practice. The project deliverables included developing kits for students to build remote-controlled robots capable of completing a chosen task, as well as an instruction manual to help facilitators guide students through the engineering learning experience.
- Waste-upcycling project
- Five students (all men): Paul, Jordan, Trevor, Michael, and Eric.
- Students were tasked with designing a process and sample products for the production of sellable goods from waste to be used by a youth organization in Mexico. The team was responsible for designing the workspace layout and creating manuals and a training session for the youth who will be creating the products.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Student Reflections
- How have you integrated previous coursework from outside of engineering into your capstone design experience?
- Describe your role in detail and how your contributions have impacted the engineering decisions your group made.
- What constraints did you consider and how has it impacted your design?
- How have you approached learning new things when you did not have the knowledge you needed to solve the problem?
- What did you learn about working on a team in capstone design that you think will help make you a successful engineer?
- Describe an example of an engineering analysis in your design project that you were personally involved in conducting.
- What societal, ethical, and professional issues did you consider in your capstone design experience?
- Describe an example of an experiment and/or prototype you were personally involved in testing.
2.2. Thematic Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Connectivity
3.1.1. Transdisciplinary
This [project] made me realize how interconnected engineering is with other departments and disciplines.
Almost every single class that I have taken at USD has proven to be beneficial in one way or another for this senior capstone project.
When thinking about engineering, I always thought about the technical and scientific aspects and situations they undergo and I never really thought about the various other elements that go into engineering.
In my [theology class], I had many of my foundational beliefs regarding politics, religion, and social issues challenged. Not only challenged, but effectively argued against in a way I had not experienced before. Such an experience led me to take uncomfortable criticism and learn how to apply it to strengthen or change my positions, depending on the situation. This lesson was critical for me to take criticism and use it to contribute to the team’s effort.
3.1.2. Multiple Stakeholders
Our project was a community based project so we ran into many communication issues, not just among ourselves, but with both of the organizations we were working with as well. Not only communication is important, but getting a solid basis of understanding of the topic for the whole group.
One of the major constraints we had was the indirect communication between us the engineers and the community we are helping, there was always a middle man and I am not saying that the middle man did not help, I am just saying that direct communication with some members of the community would have been awesome.
Since our project is a real field project and involved two organizations, that help me to deal with a community issue we faced like shortage of materials and try to find the solutions as soon as possible without spending more money to stay with the budget. Also, it was great experience working with non-profit organization and helping them to reach their goals.
We also had to take into account that the teachers at [non-profit organization] are not engineers and therefore cannot understand some of the principles and engineering processes of the project as a whole if it is not carefully explained. By knowing and adapting to this, we can create a better and well-rounded product that is usable by anyone.
3.1.3. Community
Some of the most useful sources were the stories of people who had real experience with [food production systems]: the [local principal] helped us tremendously by giving us access to their now-defunct [food production] project and telling us about the issues that they ran into.
A significant portion of our project was aimed towards addressing the societal issue of food insecurity within our local community. While our own system will not be able to feed all the people of [disadvantaged community], our hope is to provide education on the accessibility of [food production systems] to be instituted at things like local churches and schools.
Our project has the potential to be very influential to students in underserved communities who may not have any serious exposure to the [science, technology, engineering, and math] STEM fields. This is also applicable to the ethical context. We had the responsibility to make the best possible product for [the nonprofit organization] to best serve their students and their ability to serve the community as a whole. These issues made us aware of our responsibility to best give back to the students and [the organization].
3.2. Different than Other Engineering Projects
I was placed on a community based project compared to a more technical one. I was able to work with and collaborate with many different people all from various different backgrounds. It was nice to be able to meet and figure out how to effectively work with so many different people. I believe that the thing that will make me a successful engineer is my soft skills and my ability to work with virtually anyone-a skill I was able to improve upon in senior design.
Sometimes, I think the slow speed we moved at first is what put us in this place of being open to learn and learning from mistakes along the way to create a better [food production] system in the long run.
Our design challenges had to be adaptable and applicable. A main focus we had was being able to relate engineering to the solving of real time problems. This heavily influenced our decision to proceed with waste collection and humanitarian efforts to be the focus of our design challenges.
The main constraint that was considered was the age group of the students that we were working with. The lesson plans and design challenges have also been simplified in order to allow the kids to understand key concepts that went into the ROV, without overwhelming them.
[This] project is a real community project that makes it special, also makes it harder in some way but that leads to a huge gain of experience and learning.
3.2.1. Nebulous
Some of the constraints that we faced were physical and quantifiable, but just as many if not more were based on ideas that we needed our project to embody. We started out with basically no idea what it was that we were going to create or even why, and our constraints reflected this.
The lack of direct guidance on what we should actually be creating helped me to learn the importance of developing a real set of objectives and constraints for the project. Obviously I had done this before, but previously there was always one right answer, or they were essentially trivial because I knew exactly what I was going to do anyways.
We had to establish our own mode of operation right off the bat along with having to declare our own goals for this project.
This proved to be challenging at first because we had to work using the Sprint model in class, and it felt like we were having to spend way more time making sure we had the right content to turn in to class and get a good grade instead of getting work done that was precisely relevant to our design process and overall project. However, once we entered into [the second semester] and could design our own sprints, things started working out a whole lot better for us. This was when we were able to achieve the tasks that we clearly defined for ourselves. We saved a lot of time only doing what was necessary for discovering what’s best for our system, instead of spending time on meeting requirements that weren’t exactly applicable to our community project.
3.2.2. Qualitative
I did all the testing for the small-scale prototype because it was kept at my house. It was interesting because much that came out of this experiment was qualitative results. I was able to learn that qualitative results can be just as informative as quantitative.
The engineering analysis that I was a part of was the flora and fauna analysis. This wasn’t a typical engineering analysis in the sense where a lot of math and science were involved, but instead it involved a lot of research in the details of the key features of each flora and fauna option.
Since I created the flowcharts for the processes, I was very involved with testing the process to figure out average time to completion. We tested [the process] by running through the process in different ways, and trying new things in order to reduce the time taken to completion. Through this data, the process was reorganized into a more efficient way that moved people around to spaces were (sic) there was help needed.
3.2.3. Sustainability
Our whole context was built around the unjust and unsustainable food system that emphasizes efficiency and economic growth. A more sustainable food system puts the community and environment first to provide communities that cannot afford it a chance to produce their own food. Similarly, it conserves rather than depletes natural resources to ensure environmental health. Having this as the basis of our project really placed emphasis on the social and environmental justice of food production.
We also wanted our project to present a new way of looking at agriculture and its many wastes, which is part of why we chose the [name of design]. The clear tubs backfired to some extent, but we still believe that it is important to show a bold, different design to get people interested in sustainable food production.
3.3. Justice
I also learned that engineering can involve social justice issues as well. Before, I did not think I would end up pursuing any sort of career in engineering because I never enjoyed the technical aspects of what was previously required. Once introduced to our project, I was intrigued to not only address modern sustainable food systems through methods such as [food production approach], but also educating what is a very privileged audience to allow them to appreciate more where there food comes from was an important part.
Our entire project revolves around helping underserved communities. Throughout the entire year, we were trying to cater our design to this user group. We did this by trying to make it as affordable as possible and easy to just pick up and learn. We wanted to make a product that was inclusive to all and didn’t have any negative impacts on people.
We mainly considered the societal issue of poverty. One of the main goals of our project was to help children in [disadvantaged community] get through high school through the selling of our products. Since we created an effective process that creates products that these students can sell, hopefully this will have a hand in creating economic growth and helping them continue their education.
3.3.1. Ethics
For this project, we wanted to go about the right way and we all were quick to stand up for what we believe in. For example, I would not let lava rocks from Hawai’I be used on our project and I think that is a good way to bring our philosophy and understanding of who we effect (sic) into the project.
We also addressed the ethical/professional issues of making sure that our system was food safe because we were possibly providing food for people. As we were trying to connect two types of plastic, we needed to make sure that our connection didn’t leech into the water, thus adding toxins to the [food that] people would eat. It wouldn’t be ethical to provide/sell food that could be toxic to people.
I would also say that my engineering ethics course that I have completed has helped me a lot in understanding what an engineer is supposed to be and act in a more professional way, and especially considering our community based project where we are helping a specific community to become a better community.
4. Discussion
4.1. Challenges
4.2. Project Preparations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
- National Academy of Engineering. Engineering as A Social Enterprise; The National Academies Press: Washington, DC, USA, 1991. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Dcosta, A. A Review of PESTLE Analysis History and Application—BrightHub Project Management. Available online: https://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/100279-pestle-analysis-history-and-application/ (accessed on 21 January 2022).
- Momo, B.; Hoople, G.D.; Chen, D.A.; Mejia, J.A.; Lord, S.M. Broadening the Engineering Canon: How Culturally Responsive Pedagogies Can Help Educate the Engineers of the Future. Murmurations Emerg. Equity Educ. 2020, 1, 6–21. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Paris, D. Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: A Needed Change in Stance, Terminology, and Practice. Educ. Res. 2012, 41, 93–97. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Paris, D.; Alim, H.S. Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Social Justice in a Changing World; Teachers College Press: New York, NY, USA, 2017; ISBN 9780807775707. [Google Scholar]
- Medin, D.L.; Ojalehto, B.; Marin, A.; Bang, M. Culture and Epistemologies: Putting Culture Back Into the Ecosystem. In Advances in Culture and Psychology; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2013. [Google Scholar]
- Kimmerer, R.W. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants; Milkweed Editions: Minneapolis, MN, USA, 2013. [Google Scholar]
- Watson, J. Lo-Tek: Design by Radical Indigenism; Taschen: Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2019. [Google Scholar]
- Medin, D.L.; Bang, M. Who’s Asking?: Native Science, Western Science, and Science Education; MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2014; ISBN 9780262026628. [Google Scholar]
- Marin, A.; Bang, M. Designing Pedagogies for Indigenous Science Education: Finding Our Way to Storywork. J. Am. Indian Educ. 2015, 54, 29–51. [Google Scholar]
- Abras, C.; Maloney-Krichmar, D.; Preece, J. User-Centered Design in Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction; Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA, USA, 2005; pp. 445–456. [Google Scholar]
- Zoltowski, C.B.; Oakes, W.C.; Cardella, M.E. Students’ ways of experiencing human-centered design. J. Eng. Educ. 2012, 101, 28–59. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Bielefeldt, A.R.; Lima, M. Service-learning and civic engagement as the basis for engineering design education. In New Innovations in Engineering Education and Naval Engineering; IntechOpen: London, UK, 2019. [Google Scholar]
- Canney, N.; Bielefeldt, A. Collegiate service engagement correlations with engineering job selection and satisfaction. Int. J. Serv. Learn. Eng. Humanit. Eng. Soc. Entrep. 2020, 15, 1–17. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Forbes, M.H.; Dalrymple, O.O.; Lord, S.M.; Baillie, C.; Hoople, G.D.; Mejia, J.A. The engineering exchange for social justice (ExSJ): Advancing justice through sociotechnical engineering and equitable partnership exchanges. In Proceedings of the 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference, 26 July 2021. [Google Scholar]
- Urias, E.; Vogels, F.; Yalcin, S.; Malagrida, R.; Steinhaus, N.; Zweekhorst, M. A framework for Science Shop processes: Results of a modified Delphi study. Futures 2020, 123, 102613. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Savoia, A.; Lefebvre, B.; Millot, G.; Bocquet, B. The science shop concept and its implementation in a French university. J. Innov. Econ. Manag. 2017, 1, 97–117. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Hawkins, L.; Mulder, H.; Steinhause, N. Building a Science or Research Shop: Refining or Expanding Your Model. 2013. Available online: https://research.library.mun.ca/1806/ (accessed on 4 February 2023).
- Leydens, J.A.; Lucena, J.C. Engineering Justice: Transforming Engineering Education and Practice; John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2017; ISBN 9781118757307. [Google Scholar]
- Baillie, C. Engineering and Social Justice. In The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Engineering; Routledge: New York, NY, USA, 2020. [Google Scholar]
- Riley, D. Engineering and Social Justice; Morgan & Claypool Publishers: San Rafael, CA, USA, 2008. [Google Scholar]
- Leydens, J.A.; Lucena, J.C.; Nieusma, D. What is design for social justice? In Proceedings of the 2014 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Indianapolis, Indiana, 15 June 2014. [Google Scholar]
- Baillie, C.; Catalano, G. Engineering and Society: Working Towards Social Justice, Part I: Engineering and Society; Morgan & Claypool: San Rafael, CA, USA, 2009. [Google Scholar]
- Pawley, A.L. What counts as engineering: Towards a redefinition. In Engineering and Social Justice: In the University and Beyond; Baillie, C., Pawley, A.L., Riley, D., Eds.; Purdue University Press: West Lafayette, IN, USA, 2012; pp. 59–85. [Google Scholar]
- Bielefeldt, A.R.; Forbes, M.H.; Sullivan, J.F. Curricular choice and technical–non-technical balance in environmental engineering degree programs. In Proceedings of the 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, LA, USA, 26–29 June 2016. [Google Scholar]
- Forbes, M.H.; Bielefeldt, A.R.; Sullivan, J.F. Curricular choice and technical—Non-technical balance in computer science and engineering degree programs. In 2016 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE); IEEE Press: New York, NY, USA, 2016. [Google Scholar]
- Mission, Vision and Values—University of San Diego. Available online: https://www.sandiego.edu/about/mission-vision-values.php (accessed on 21 January 2022).
- ABET. Available online: https://www.abet.org/accreditation/ (accessed on 4 February 2023).
- Cervone, H.F. Understanding agile project management methods using Scrum. OCLC Syst. Serv. Int. Digit. Libr. Perspect. 2011, 27, 18–22. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Lieberum, T.; Schiffels, S.; Kolisch, R. Should we all work in sprints? How agile project management improves performance. Manuf. Serv. Oper. Manag. 2022, 24, 2293–2309. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Adams, R.S.; Turns, J.; Atman, C.J. Educating effective engineering designers: The role of reflective practice. Des. Stud. 2003, 24, 275–294. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Smith, J.A. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Qual. Psychol. 2015, 222, 248. [Google Scholar]
Theme | Sub-Theme |
---|---|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Forbes, M.H.; Hoople, G.D. The Complexities and Benefits of Community-Partnered Projects for Engineering Capstone Design Students. Trends High. Educ. 2023, 2, 291-305. https://doi.org/10.3390/higheredu2020016
Forbes MH, Hoople GD. The Complexities and Benefits of Community-Partnered Projects for Engineering Capstone Design Students. Trends in Higher Education. 2023; 2(2):291-305. https://doi.org/10.3390/higheredu2020016
Chicago/Turabian StyleForbes, Marissa H., and Gordon D. Hoople. 2023. "The Complexities and Benefits of Community-Partnered Projects for Engineering Capstone Design Students" Trends in Higher Education 2, no. 2: 291-305. https://doi.org/10.3390/higheredu2020016
APA StyleForbes, M. H., & Hoople, G. D. (2023). The Complexities and Benefits of Community-Partnered Projects for Engineering Capstone Design Students. Trends in Higher Education, 2(2), 291-305. https://doi.org/10.3390/higheredu2020016