Design: the future of engineering and engineering technology education

Today most engineering programs have some kind of design course at the freshman or sophomore level to introduce students to the process of solving real problems in the face of uncertainty. The trends have been positive changes for engineering and technology students and engineering education. Now that most engineering and engineering technology programs have at least two major design experiences, what is the next step? Although the development of major design courses has changed the overall educational experience for students, it has yet to change much about their experiences in traditional engineering science classes. The basic application and content of these courses are being altered in some programs through the use of integrated curricula, but even those programs could benefit from thinking about the role of design in traditional engineering science classes. The author suggests that the next goal of engineering and technology education should be to truly integrate the traditional engineering science classes with engineering design. There are two primary reasons to include a design component in the majority of engineering science classes: design provides a necessary link from theoretical material to its application in the real world, and design presents a clear avenue for achieving other student learning objectives beyond the development of analytical skills and basic engineering knowledge.