Mr. Malte Awolin graduated as a social scientist from the University of Mannheim, Germany, in 2011. From 2011 until now he is part of the academic staff at the Center for Educational Development, Technische Universität (TU) Darmstadt, Germany. Since 2012 he is a member in the project "Development of competencies through interdisciplinary integration from the very beginning" (German acronym KIVA) at TU Darmstadt. In the sub-project KIVA V he is an educational consultant for different departments and supports the realization of interdisciplinary design projects for first-year students, especially in the engineering sciences (e.g., IGE). Before the courses he conducts a course where students are trained and supervised for their job as team advisor during the interdisciplinary design projects. Alongside the courses he investigates empirically how the support system could be designed more efficiently.
Adaption and evolution of a first year design project week course-From Germany to the United States to MongoliaFirst year design projects are needed to introduce students early in their studies to design work, prepare students for requirements of industry, and give students a positive perspective on their upcoming coursework during their degree program. Introduction to German Engineering (IGE) fulfills these purposes along with promoting interdisciplinary work and professional skills, especially the development of team competencies integrated within the subject-related process of problem solving. It is a first year course taught to introduce students to the German engineering design process and project work in groups. It was developed in 1998 at the Technische Universität Darmstadt Mechanical and Process Engineering Department in cooperation with the Center for Educational Development at TU Darmstadt. Through this collaboration, students are also taught professional skills such as group management, team work skills, and communication within the context and integration of the subject. IGE was then expanded to an international experience with two participating American universities, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Virginia Tech. It has most recently been adapted and taught at a Mongolian University, German Mongolian Institute for Resources and Technology. This paper will discuss the major aspects of the course, in particular, the history and development of the course, the didactic concept and support system, the expansion of the original course to an interdisciplinary, international course, adaptions of the course for GMIT, general success of the course in all of its forms, and future developments of the course.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.