Experiential Learning Opportunities Exploring the Impact of Engineering Solutions – A Collaborative GenEd-Engineering Effort

At the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), General Education (GenEd) requirements for Bachelor Degrees include six credit hours dedicated to project work that brings students from all across the university to work in teams that resemble a professional work setting. These interprofessional student teams work with faculty and/or industry mentors on a wide range of projects. Students assume different roles in the team and are encouraged to approach the project from their own perspective and to contribute their respective discipline-specific knowledge while performing within their professional role in the team. Engineering students in these interprofessional teams are often addressing (and leading) the technical aspects of the project using engineering approaches to problem solving. To take best advantage of this GenEd requirement and its potential impact in engineering education, our college of engineering has been working to create projects that provide opportunities for students to address significant contemporary challenges that can benefit from engineering solutions. This paper describes an “Urban Systems” inter-professional project course that (in the context of the themes of energy, heath, security and water) examines challenges posed by urban systems, proposes creative solutions, and forms innovation teams focused on the research and development of prototype solutions. Developed to specifically target local issues in Chicago, IL where IIT is located, the intent of the course is to foster the use of engineering approaches to problem solving, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship among students. Ideas that have emerged from this course range from new apps to better serve the community on healthy food needs to a new concept of a cooling tent for hot summers. In addition to the opportunity to apply their respective discipline-specific knowledge, theme-centered, engineeringled, inter-professional projects provide our students with team work, leadership, and project management skills while contributing to the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal context. Interdisciplinary project courses Project-based learning opportunities can help students develop better communication and team cooperation skills, gain experience with divergent and convergent thinking modes that foster engineering intuition, and enhance student ability to apply experiences and skills form one context to another. According to Howe and Wilbarger, engineering capstone design courses that included interdepartmental or multidisciplinary teams increased from 21% in 1994 to about 35% in 2005. Lattuca et al. examined 40 engineering schools, collecting data from graduates, faculty members, program chairs, deans, and employers, and concluded that relative to students of a decade earlier, the graduates of 2004 were better prepared. The greatest improvements occurred in student understanding of social and global issues, the ability to apply engineering skills, teamwork, and the appreciation of ethics and professional issues. Based on their review of project-based learning efforts at several schools, Esterman et al. provided the following list of characteristics common to successful programs: P ge 26721.3 • Projects should be developed so they can be completed and provide a positive experience for the students. • Sponsored projects should not be on the critical path of the sponsor, but having stakeholders interact with the team makes the project more meaningful. • Project objectives must be clearly defined from the start. • Relative to analysis problems, design problems are much more effective. • Students need to be aware that they will manage the project and have the freedom to fail. • Complex and diverse projects are essential if the multidisciplinary team is to be engaged. Recent studies about these kinds of team courses suggest that the terms “interdisciplinary” and “multidisciplinary” can have different interpretations. For example, in describing their work with teams of architecture, construction, and engineering students, Chiocchio et al. cite the work of D’Amour et al. and make the following distinction: Multidisciplinary describes professionals from different disciplines working in parallel on the same project, and interdisciplinary describes professionals from different disciplines collaborate and share knowledge required to solve complex problems. Bhandari et al. use the term “multidisciplinary” to describe a course that included about nine engineering disciplines; apparently there were no students from nonengineering disciplines. Hotaling et al. use the concept of “multidisciplinary” for a course that included mechanical and biomedical engineers. Smith and Cole describe their experience with a project design course that involves undergraduate students from civil, mechanical, and electronic and computer engineering. The Urban Systems Interprofessional Projects IIT began an institute-wide formal interdisciplinary program in 1995. The new general education requirement was comprised of six credit hours of Interprofessional Projects (IPRO) designed to be satisfied within two, three-credit hour courses in a two-semester time period. The IPRO program involves teams of students learning about design-centered methodology and innovative thinking, and applying those techniques to develop solutions to real-world problems. Because the requirement applies to all undergraduates, an IPRO course might include students from engineering, architecture, human sciences, physical sciences, applied technology, and business. In 2012, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) recognized IIT as having one of 29 programs in the nation that have successfully infused real world experiences into engineering undergraduate education. Two years ago the College of Engineering Distinctive Education committee designed a new IPRO course around the theme of urban systems. We define an urban system as any collection of independent parts that interact to make cities work better. Examples of urban systems include those that provide energy, communications, education, healthcare, water supply, transportation, solid waste management, recreation, and transportation. Urban systems are a great vehicle for project-based learning because they involve tangible, real-world issues, the problems are global (nearly 30% of undergraduates at our institution are international students), and comprehensive solutions to these problems require a multidisciplinary approach. In addition, urban systems need maintenance and repair, and it will be expensive. Based on an assessment of conventional civil engineering infrastructure, the costs for infrastructure repair in the U.S. will exceed $3 trillion P ge 26721.4 by 2020. Above and beyond conventional repair, urban systems need redesign to move forward toward the intelligent, integrated systems that will make future cities work. IIT is in a unique position to address these needs because we are in an urban environment; we are a multidisciplinary institution (programs in engineering, architecture, sciences, law, business, and design are well-suited to urban problems); and we have a history of collaborative interactions with various city departments that play a vital role in maintaining and improving urban infrastructure. In fall 2014, the urban systems IPRO had 35 students, representing several engineering disciplines, architecture, psychology, business, and the sciences. The sequence of major tasks for the semester (Figure 1) guided students through a multistep process including problem definition, exploratory prototyping, and project execution, all culminating in a final presentation at a campus-wide IPRO exposition. Figure 1. Timing and sequence of major tasks in the Urban Systems IPRO course. In the first week of the course, students receive a copy of Sustainable Chicago 2015 Action Plan. This document describes seven categories that are vital to the sustainability of Chicago: • Economic Development and Job Creation • Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy • Transportation Options • Water and Wastewater • Parks, Open Space, and Healthy Food • Waste and Recycling • Climate Change Weeks 1 -­‐ 4: