Structuring Engineering Design Courses to Motivate Students

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of motivation in engineering design courses. In this study we present a structured approach to identify motivational gaps and instructional design to explicitly address motivational needs in a current course in mechanical engineering design. The SUCCESS framework (Hardré, 2009) has been proposed to assess the existing motivational components of the course, examine gaps in the course relative to its goals, and then propose motivating strategies to address those gaps. This paper presents the model and course description, along with the process and products of the analysis of the course to improve motivation for engagement and innovation.