Design Process Models & Re-Designing Engineers’ Design Education

Alexandra “Sascha” A. Fowler & Percy Smith

Within the United States’ a new form of engineering education has become popularized: project-based learning particularly for first-year engineering students. Often hands-on projects courses become students’ first experiences designing an object. Many are taught design through “conventional” design processes (ex: circular models) which focus on sequentializing the design experience; this becomes the structure for the course. Western biases perpetuated in these design models feed into the courses and are internalized within engineers – often becoming reproduced in engineering designs later in students' careers. This poses ramifications particularly in technologies deployed in society. In contrast, “lived” design processes identify the complexity of designing. These processes are often non-linear and include the creator’s biases/experiences of design. We believe that each individual has their own version of a “lived” design process. We are proposing a restructuring of how design is explained to first-year students via course curriculum. Our aim is to have students complete a build activity and draw a personal “lived” design process prior to introducing “conventional” processes. Because students create diagrams prior to design explanations, their process highlights individual design biases. By targeting introductions to design thinking, we hope new engineers can understand the design ramifications dependent on personal biases and sociocultural contexts.

Bio URL: https://www.colorado.edu/lab/hannigan/sascha-fowler

Poster PDF: https://www.colorado.edu/csl/media/1193

Related Paper: https://www.researchgate.net/doi/10.13140/RG.2.2.24596.16003