What we did
On this project we established intent, determined pedagogy, and created learning outcomes. We collected relevant research to inform our curriculum prototypes which we tested through workshops with professors and students from multiple institutions. Our final formal proposal included curriculum for the semester long course, a compilation of relevant resources and research, and detailed pedagogical reasoning for each major design decision. We frequently consulted with the WFU engineering department and regularly prepared our in-process work for internal and external design reviews and critique. On this small team everyone worked on all aspects of the project. I was the project manager.
Project Story
Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was getting ready to open a brand new engineering department. The new department asked us to work with them to design their introductory engineering course for both liberal arts and engineering track students. WFU’s moto is 'Pro Humanitate' (For the People). The engineering department wanted to create an innovative program that would embrace a cross disciplinary approach to teach their students to be ‘liberal arts engineers’. Liberal arts engineers are socially conscious, creative, collaborative people ready to use their many skills to build solutions to complex problems for real people. Using WFU’s vision, input from students from several universities, and our education research we developed a pedagogy and built a semester long curriculum. In this course students design, build, and iterate in the real world. The curriculum is focused on providing a strong foundation in the skills any designer or engineer needs, regardless of context. Students practice critical thinking, failure and iteration, human-centered design, and communication through project-based learning. The department opened its doors Fall 2017 and the first class was a success. With WFU we created a bold new program that celebrates diversity along many axes; preparing students to engage in problem solving for a better world.
