Abstract Mass customization provides a way to satisfy an increasing number of customers by tailoring product details to their preferences. Moreover, there is a considerable amount of pressure on industries that embrace mass customization in their product portfolios to consistently produce innovative and market defining technology. To ease this pressure, this study offers organizations a perspective on what combination of attributes is most influential on choice when approaching decision support for the purchase of a Configure-to-Order product. Laptops are used here as a case study, but the approach is generalizable to any family of products. This approach first uses metrics gained from a modified conjoint analysis applied to data gathered from a student consumer base. Customer satisfaction is measured as a function of how many product offerings are provided, identifying and quantifying a trade-off between customizability and consumer satisfaction. This aims to cater to the requirements of the consumer base and key business advantages allowing for greater usability and maximum profits.

Abstract Additive manufacturing (AM) enables engineers to improve the functionality and performance of their designs by adding complexity at little to no additional cost. However, AM processes also exhibit certain unique limitations, such as the presence of support material, which must be accounted for to ensure that designs can be manufactured feasibly and cost-effectively. Given these unique process characteristics, it is important for an AM-trained workforce to be able to incorporate both opportunistic and restrictive design for AM (DfAM) considerations into the design process. While AM/DfAM educational interventions have been discussed in the literature, limited research has investigated the effect of these interventions on students’ use of DfAM. Furthermore, limited research has explored how DfAM use affects the performance of students’ AM designs. This research explores this gap through an experimental study with 123 undergraduate students. Specifically, participants were exposed to either restrictive DfAM or dual DfAM (both opportunistic and restrictive) and then asked to participate in an AM design challenge. The students’ final designs were evaluated for (1) performance with respect the design objectives and constraints, and (2) the use of the various aspects of DfAM. The results showed that the use of certain DfAM considerations, such as minimum feature size and support material mass, successfully predicted the performance of the AM designs. Further, while the variations in DfAM education did not influence the performance of the AM designs, it did have an effect on the students’ use of certain DfAM concepts in their final designs. These results highlight the influence of DfAM education in bringing about an increase in students’ use of DfAM. Moreover, the results demonstrate the potential influence of DfAM in reducing build time and build material of the students’ AM designs, thus improving design performance and manufacturability.

Abstract Additive manufacturing (AM) affords those who wield it correctly the benefits of shape, material, hierarchical, and functional complexity. However, many engineers and designers lack the training and experience necessary to take full advantage of these benefits. They require training, tools, and methods to assist them in gaining the enhanced design freedom made possible by additive manufacturing. This work, which is an extension of the authors’ previous work, explores if design heuristics for AM, presented in a card-based format, are an effective mechanism for helping designers achieve the design freedoms enabled by AM. The effectiveness of these design heuristic cards is demonstrated in an experiment with 27 product design students, by showing that there is an increase in the number of unique capabilities of AM being utilized, an increase in the AM novelty , and an increase in the AM flexibility of the generated concepts, when given access to the cards. Additionally, similar to the previous work, an increase in the number of interpreted heuristics and AM modifications present in the participants’ designs when they are provided with the heuristic cards is shown. Comparisons are also made between 8-heuristic and 29-heuristic experiments, but no conclusive statements regarding these comparisons can be drawn. Further user studies are planned to confirm the efficacy of this format at enhancing the design freedoms achieved in group and team design scenarios.

Abstract The study presented here explores the influence that an educational intervention has on students in generating requirements during a design task. An experiment was performed in a fourth-year level mechanical engineering design course in which student participants are given a design problem for which they generated a list of requirements, a lecture on requirements in engineering design, and a second design problem for which they generated a second list of requirements. The results from the two problems were tested for determine whether the problems were similar in terms of variety and novelty of requirements generated. The effects of the lecture were evaluated by comparing results from the pre- and post-lecture activity with the two problems. Variety was assessed by sorting the individual requirements generated by each participant into eighteen categories. Novelty was evaluated on the level of uniqueness of the requirement against the complete set generated by all participants, based on both syntax and semantic filtering. The findings suggest that the lecture had a positive impact on the students in increasing the variety of the requirements generated individually by the participants. Further, all the identified novel requirements belonged to the activity performed after lecture.

Abstract Senior Capstone Design courses offer two major types of projects: industry sponsored projects and non-industry sponsored projects. Previous studies show changes in student motivation based on the type of project they select. However, the quantitative data analysis fails to capture the reasoning behind the student’s inclination towards a certain type of project in the beginning of the selection phase. Also, little is known about the personal experiences of the student working on the team and project they choose. This paper addresses the gap in the examination of student motivation based on the type of projects they select. This paper outlines a coding scheme developed to analyze the qualitative interview data gathered during an open-floor style exit interview with all of the senior design teams. The thirty minute exit interviews were conducted at the end of the semester to capture their experiences and reflections about the course. A coding manual is generated which highlights the codes observed frequently among the teams. Themes are developed highlighting the important phases of the course. The objective is to develop a coding scheme for senior capstone design courses which would serve as a guide to the educators to determine various factors that influence student motivation and improve the senior design experience for all students.

Abstract Within the domain of education, the term “critical thinking” is widely understood to mean the various skills that comprise an individual’s logical and reasoning abilities. It is critical that designers possess these abilities so that they can solve the complex problems of an increasingly interconnected world. In order to better understand patterns in engineering students’ critical thinking, this research applies the classifications of the 2001 revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy to 49 reflections written by first-year engineering students on a two-hour design practicum. Reflections were thematically coded to identify when students operated in different levels of the cognitive process and knowledge dimensions. Using k-means clustering analysis, genres of reflection were then determined. Four unique clusters of responses were identified. Notable trends in clusters included application and evaluation of procedural knowledge. Additionally, a difference was observed between the two largest clusters regarding deviance from the design process. While one cluster of responses generally minimized discussion of deviance, the second largest cluster emphasized this deviance, highlighting it as an opportunity for future growth. This work provides insight into how students learn design and how they communicate their learning, providing insight for instructors hoping to encourage deeper critical thinking in design courses.

Abstract Understanding the differences in functional models between traditional full-time graduate students and graduate students working in industry may allow for a deeper understanding of the impact of an engineer’s work on their ability to model a system in terms of its functions. To explore these differences, the researchers assigned two groups of students the task of creating a functional model of a can opener. One group of graduate students was traditional full-time graduate students while the other group was comprised of graduate students who are actively working in industry as engineers in the consumer appliance sector. This paper explores both the mechanics and plausibility behind the functional models created by the two groups of students and the impact of the industry standard parameter diagrams on the functional models of the graduate students’ working in industry. After an initial analysis of the data, the researchers noticed an abnormal trend of the industry students to include more information beyond the common functional model elements which affected their models’ logical plausibility. Because this trend seemed to occur in higher quantities in the industry students’ functional models than the traditional graduate students’ models, the researchers decided to evaluate both groups’ functional models with a rubric developed for parameter diagrams — a model format common to the industry in which the industry students were employed. After re-analyzing the functional models of both groups using the parameter diagram rubric, it was observed that the industry students’ functional models did indeed include higher traces of parameter diagrams than the average graduate student. The researchers believe this may have been due to design fixation and incomplete conceptual change in practicing engineers. Implications of this finding are discussed herein.

Abstract Engineering projects typically revolve around producing a deliverable. That deliverable goes to a customer, who either deems it acceptable or in need of further work. The engineering analysis and components of whatever system is to be produced are the subject of much scrutiny. However, the human process composed of team interactions that lead up to creating that final product is frequently treated as a “black box” that simply produces an output. In order to identify what factors in that process are key to a successful product, this work seeks to identify what successful engineering design teams do differently than less successful teams. As part of our larger research project, metrics for measuring team performance during the process of design have also been created. In this paper, we use three of those metrics in a case study of 5 senior-level student design teams. These data are employed in conjunction with feedback from the instructor, acting as their customer, to identify which behaviors had strong links with more successful team results. We also investigate whether any of the behaviors exhibited by the teams correspond to worse results, in order to identify behaviors with the potential to be used to predict poorer performance in advance. This analysis is completed using data collected via a mid-term survey and an end-of-project survey (both completed by the team members), in addition to video and audio meeting data, and data collected from both midterm and final presentations. We present these results as an avenue to move us towards enabling engineers to choose to engage knowingly in behaviors that correlate with better project results.

Abstract The integration of additive manufacturing (AM) processes in many industries has led to the need for AM education and training, particularly on design for AM (DfAM). To meet this growing need, several academic institutions have implemented educational interventions, especially project- and problem-based, for AM education; however, limited research has explored how the choice of the problem statement influences the design outcomes of a task-based AM/DfAM intervention. This research explores this gap in the literature through an experimental study with 222 undergraduate engineering students. Specifically, the study compared the effects of restrictive and dual (restrictive and opportunistic) DfAM education, when introduced through either a simple or complex design task. The effects of the intervention were measured through (1) changes in student DfAM self-efficacy, (2) student self-reported emphasis on DfAM, and (3) the creativity of student AM designs. The results show that the complexity of the design task has a significant effect on the participants’ self-efficacy with, and self-reported emphasis on, certain DfAM concepts. The results also show that the complex design task results in participants generating ideas with greater median uniqueness compared to the simple design task. These findings highlight the importance of the chosen problem statement on the outcomes of a DfAM educational intervention, and future work is also discussed.

Abstract World economic forum reported that creativity is one of the most sought after skills by employers globally. Preliminary research lead to multiple initiatives on enhancing creativity and innovation. To contribute in this field, we investigated the effect of two interventions on the creativity of undergraduate engineering students, particularly on engineering design concept generation. The primary focus of this investigation was on assessing the effect of two interventions, combining and classifying concepts, on the originality and quantity of the concepts produced. In this research, we used the Decision Tree for Originality Assessment in Design (DTOAD) as a measure of concept originality. Statistical analysis showed that both the combine and the classify interventions lead to concept generation with higher originality. We also found that students produced higher number of the radically different concept, i.e. concepts with originality score 7.5 and above, however this effect was observed in all the test groups. These interventions made improvements and thus can be encouraged as a part of an ideation or an engineering problem solving task in the undergraduate engineering education to help the students develop creative skills.

Abstract Product dissection has the ability to create an engaging and active learning environment for engineering students. The purpose of this paper was to further investigate students’ perceptions on product dissection in the classroom. This paper was developed to provide an examination of the usefulness of product dissection for idea generation and how product dissection modules might aid in students’ understanding of the module. The findings of this paper conclude that students felt that the product dissection module was useful, valuable, and enjoyable and that students had a positive sentiment towards the designed aspects of the dissection module. Through the use of content analysis, areas for improvement in these modules are identified.

Abstract In product design courses, prototyping offers a way for students to develop physical intuition about materials while practicing techniques used by professional designers. A web-based platform was developed to explore the use of multimedia to provide students with additional support for prototyping activities. The result is Designy ( www.productdesigny.com ), a platform containing a series of photo- and video-based resources meant to help students prototype effectively. Students in two product design classes — 2.00b Toy Product Design and 2.744 Product Design — were given access to Designy to aid in their project work. To better understand whether the platform was utilized by students and if access to the platform contributed to student learning and project work, researchers analyzed website activity data and interviewed students (n = 19) to collect data regarding their experiences with the platform. A core group of 24 students (27%) in 2.00b and 29 students (35%) in 2.744 generated the most activity on the platform. Interview data indicates that students used the platform to answer prototyping-related questions when designing, to better understand the landscape of prototyping tools available to them, and to increase a feeling of confidence working in a prototyping shop. Overall, results suggest that while in-person interactions with staff members can better help students in situations where the support students need is poorly identified, Designy was shown to provide efficient support in situations when students could clearly identify the type of support they needed.

Abstract Establishment of technical design specifications for the re-design of technical systems, which are not derived from customers needs, relies heavily on designers intuition and experience. The very few methods proposed in the literature for the establishment of such technical design specifications hinders the learning process in conceptual design subjects. The objective of this article is to propose a structured method for identification of technical design specifications based on the function-behavior-state (FBS) model applied on redesign tasks. The method is being taught to students on the course of methodical design in order to develop their abilities on the identification of technical specifications without relying on previous knowledge on the system and relying more on detailed observation. This method is based on the observation and identification of the different states taken by the attributes of the entities conforming the system (i.e., flows-function carriers-environment). A small scale preliminary study was conducted in order to validate the initial performance of the proposed method. Eight groups made up of undergraduate mechanical engineering students with basic knowledge in conceptual design were instructed to identify technical design specifications. The redesign task was to create an automated solution for replacing the manual production process at small food manufacturing companies. Four groups of students had to establish the specifications using their experience while the other four groups had to use the proposed method. Initial results showed for the proposed method a 36% increase in the number of identified specifications.

Abstract The advent of modern digital communication technology has enabled engineers to effectively collaborate regardless of team members’ geographic locations. As such, introducing engineering students to virtual environments and collaborative tools is particularly important to prepare them for careers in increasingly digital environments. This study investigates how integrating online collaboration tools in students’ idea generation activities impacts the i) quantity and ii) variety of ideas generated after a peer-feedback session. Students from five sections of a first-year engineering design course were assigned to either a collocated design team or a non-collocated design team to participate in a collaborative design feedback activity. Students individually generated an idea set using an online brainstorming tool (Stormboard), received peer-feedback via one of two delivery conditions (in-person or virtual through video conferencing), and revised their idea set based on the received feedback. Each final idea set was analyzed and compared to identify any differences in the final idea quantity and variety due to the assigned feedback delivery condition. Results revealed a statistically significant difference, but with minimal realistic impact on the final quantity of ideas (equivalent to a difference of one idea between groups). No statistically significant difference was found in the final variety of ideas generated between collocated and non-collocated design teams after the peerfeedback session. This suggests that feedback provided through digital collaboration tools may be used to support idea generation in non-collocated teams without being detrimental to ideation solutions. The implications of these findings are significant for faculty or students who may be involved in online learning activities centered on engineering design.

Abstract In a multifaceted course such as senior capstone design, it is integral to ensure students are receiving a value adding experience. In most universities across the United States, senior capstone design is a multiple semester sequence where design is heavily emphasized and students are encouraged to test their skills, both technical and nontechnical, by solving and implementing solutions to real industry problems. Given the nature of design courses, the takeaways are not things that can be measured solely through the use of a letter grade. Rather, an in-depth reflective interview must be performed to fully comprehend what students received from the course. In this study, an In-Depth Interview Protocol was developed to understand the effectiveness of engineering design courses and improve design education as a whole. This paper outlines the phases that contribute towards the development of an effective interview protocol for implementation in senior capstone design curriculum. The formulation and considerations are outlined with respect to design curriculum and student success. This protocol will be utilized to perform a Reflection Interview for each senior design project team at the end of the spring 2019 semester. The assignment is not graded and is inquisitive on the students’ perceptions of motivation during their time at Florida Tech. The qualitative data gathered will be eligible for further studies and analysis.

Abstract University engineering programs across the USA engage in service learning projects. These projects involve student teams designing and implementing products or solutions for communities in need, often in developing nations. There has been much research done relating to pedagogy and the impact of these programs on student learning. However, less research has been done on measuring the impact of these programs on the affected communities. This paper examines factors that practitioners believe are related to successfully delivering a desirable and transferable solution to affected communities. The authors identified 46 distinct factors from the literature that implicitly or explicitly are suggested to contribute to successful project outcomes. Formed as postulates in this paper, these 46 factors have been separated into 5 categories to assist understanding and implementing these factors into service learning programs. Lastly, different methods of analyzing and measuring project success and impact are discussed. Future methods for proving the viability of the 46 postulates are discussed as well.

Abstract The objective of this study is to investigate students’ decision-making during the information gathering activities of a design process. Existing literature in engineering education has shown that students face difficulties while gathering information in various activities of a design process such as brainstorming and CAD modeling. Decision-making is an important aspect of these activities. While gathering information, students make several decisions such as what information to acquire and how to acquire that information. There lies a research gap in understanding how students make decisions while gathering information in a product design process. To address this gap, we conduct semi-structured interviews and surveys in a product design course. We analyze the students’ decision-making activities from the lens of a sequential information acquisition and decision-making (SIADM) framework. We find that the students recognize the need to acquire information about the physics and dynamics of their design artifact during the CAD modeling activity of the product design process. However, they do not acquire such information from their CAD models primarily due to the lack of the project requirements, their ability, and the time to do so. Instead, they acquire such information from the prototyping activity as their physical prototype does not satisfy their design objectives. However, the students do not get the opportunity to iterate their prototype with the given cost and time constraints. Consequently, they rely on improvising during prototyping. Based on our observations, we discuss the need for designing course project activities such that it facilitates students’ product design decisions.

Abstract Although teamwork is being integrated throughout engineering education because of the perceived benefits of teams, the construct of psychological safety has been largely ignored in engineering research. This omission is unfortunate, because psychological safety reflects collective perceptions about how comfortable team members feel in sharing their perspectives and it has been found to positively impact team performance in samples outside of engineering [20]. Engineering team research has also been crippled by “snap-shot” methodologies and the resulting lack of investigation into the dynamic changes that happen within a team over course projects. This is problematic, because we do not know when, how, or what type of interventions are needed to effectively improve “t-shaped” engineering skills like teamwork, communication, and engaging successfully in a diverse team. In light of these issues, the goal of the current study was to understand how psychological safety might be measured practically and reliably in engineering student teams over time . In addition, we sought to identify the trajectory of psychological safety for engineering design student teams and identify the potential factors that impact the building and waning of psychological safety in these teams. This was accomplished through a 4-week study with 12 engineering design teams where data was captured at six time points. The results of this study present some of the first evidence on the reliability of psychological safety in engineering student populations. The results also help begin to answer some difficult fundamental questions on supporting team performance in engineering education.

Abstract Effective data collection can be one of the most challenging aspects of engineering design research. Design projects often occur over periods of weeks, months, or years, making continuous data collection a time-intensive task. Further, interrupting the design process to collect data can be intrusive and disrupt the flow of design. ARCHIE is a system designed to take photos of designers’ physical prototypes, link them to designer perceptions of the design, and maintain a record of design evolution over time. This device will allow researchers to collect data on physical prototyping efforts in design environments without researcher intervention, reducing the burden of data collection in authentic design settings. The device provides designers with an easier way to document physical prototyping efforts and record the evolution of their design with photos and descriptions and promises to allow for researchers to leverage machine learning to automatically analyze aspects of the prototype such as geometric complexity or material choice by facilitating the creation of databases of design artifacts. This work describes the rationale, method, implementation, and testing of ARCHIE using student design projects.

Abstract While we know that poor decisions during concept screening can lead to great expenses including redesign costs, production postponement, and even product failure, little is known about what factors influence professional concept screening. Previous research in this area has mostly been conducted with students or used hypothetical design challenges with professionals. This is problematic because such research methods are based on challengeable assumptions leaving out the risks and consequences that professionals face in their daily work. Hence, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the process of professionals making screening decisions in situ and identify the impact of the perceived properties of ideas (i.e., riskiness, originality, and feasibility) and the role of the professionals (idea generators versus executives) in this process. Specifically, a mixed method in-situ study was conducted in a small electromechanical company which included shadowing a research and development team from the conceptual stage to a final pitch meeting to senior executives. In addition, surveys and interviews were conducted to identify what factors were impacting concept screening. The results showed both idea generators and executives were able to distinguish and move ideas with relatively high market potential forward and avoided taking risks during concept screening. However, the idea generators did not show any preferences on the originality or feasibility of the ideas, while the executives preferred to invest in ideas with high feasibility. The findings of this study drew a distinction between professional design studies solving real design problems in a naturalistic, collocated team environment and those in a laboratory setting and added to the understanding of factors that influence the decisions made during professional concept screening. They also provide a much-needed insight into how engineering design professionals screen ideas.