Work in progress: Incorporating the engineering design process to solve real-life programming problems in an introductory engineering course

Abstract

For many students, the concepts involved in courses about algorithm and programming are very difficult to understand. Many professors pay more attention to the programming skills and rules that are not as critical for students in their academic career in engineering. As a result, students have high proficiencies for coding but are presenting difficulty in the process of understanding, analyzing, and solving problems, therefore being unable to transfer the acquired knowledge into real-life problems. In this paper we present preliminary results of incorporating the engineering design process into the introductory engineering programming course to solve real-life problems. This methodology has been implemented for the past two years, so that students were able to develop problemsolving skills through the application of the design process and algorithmic concepts, resulting in the completion of a project that impacted various offices at the university and/or community industries. To complete this project, first students needed to identify a possible topic applicable for the course. Then they needed to understand the problem at the site and design a solution to satisfy their needs. Also, they generated a user manual that allows office personnel to make reference as needed, since once students graduate, they are not available to answer questions. Finally, students installed the software in a computer designated to be used and train the personnel to use the program. Professors that implemented this approach perceived an increase in students' motivation throughout the course. To validate this assumption, a statistical analysis was conducted to compare students' performance on the course by comparing two groups: a control group that represents traditional teaching approaches and the experimental group that incorporated the design process in the methodology students' followed to design their solutions. Statistical results of overall students' evaluations for both groups validated these perceptions.