No abstract

The success of engineering and design is facilitated by a working understanding of human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. In this study, we explored how undergraduate engineering students included such human-centered and psychological concepts in their project documentation. Although, we observed a range of concepts related to design processes, teams, cognition, and motivation, these concepts appeared infrequently and superficially. We discuss how this analysis and approach may help to identify topics that could be leveraged for future human-centered engineering instruction.

Instruction and coursework that link engineering and psychology may enable future engineers to better understand the people they are engineering for (e.g., users and clients) and themselves as engineers (e.g., teammates). In addition, human-centered engineering education may empower engineering students to better solve problems at the intersection of technology and people. In this study, we surveyed students’ conceptions and attitudes toward human systems engineering. We aggregate responses across three survey iterations to discuss students’ knowledge and beliefs, and to consider instructional opportunities for introductory courses.

Human needs and goals are integral to engineering, but human-centered engineering requires understanding principles and methods from the social sciences. Instruction is needed to introduce engineering students to these concepts. This study explored (a) students' initial attitudes toward human systems engineering (HSE) and the bridging of psychology and engineering and (b) how attitudes shifted over one semester. Undergraduate students responded to a survey of their attitudes and conceptions at the beginning (n = 215) and end (n = 146) of a semester. Students reported high perceived value for human-centered engineering, and these attitudes remained stable or increased. Students gained in their perceived understanding of psychological concepts and usercentered design, their ability to define HSE, and ability to articulate the value of humancentered engineering. Introductory coursework in Human Systems Engineering may thus help to prepare engineering students to appreciate the psychological underpinnings of their work and engage in human-centered engineering.