Work in progress - service learning in the engineering curriculum

A new project-based service learning program was created at Michigan Tech during the Spring 2005 semester. The program uses the same structure as Michigan Tech´s enterprise program which gives students the opportunity to work on multi-disciplinary, student-led teams solving industry-supplied engineering projects. The service and leadership enterprise (SLE) shifts the focus from an entrepreneurial enterprise to that of a non-profit organization solving humanitarian problems. Although each of Michigan Tech´s Enterprise teams is intended to be multi-disciplinary, most attract one primary engineering discipline. This new enterprise has attracted students from the sciences and business, as well as multiple engineering disciplines and will provide a very diverse setting for engineering design. During the first semester the students defined their own vision for the enterprise and visited the community they would be working with in their inaugural project. SLE´s initial project will be partnering with a church on the Oglala Sioux reservation to build a community center