Teaching methods in a design class

The methodology described here is based on several years´ experience teaching a senior-level, first-year graduate student design class in nuclear engineering. Unlike some design courses, which stress details of the actual design, the primary goal of the present courses is to teach the design process, i.e., issues related to technology synthesis, project management, team organization, engineering ethics, budgeting and cost analysis, and environmental and sociological aspects of engineering projects. Considerable stress is placed on the development of both oral presentation and written communication skills. It is concluded that a design class offers an excellent opportunity to teach the basics of project management as well as the design process. This has an advantage over a topical lecture-only course, in that students can learn by actually doing a small project