Assessment of a Three-Semester Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Sequence Based on the SAE Collegiate Design Series

Development of an Entrepreneurial Mind-set within a Three-Semester Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Sequence Based on the SAE Collegiate Design Series

“…Each of the three courses in the new sequence was redesigned with learning outcomes aligned with Bloom's taxonomy [4] and session-by-session schedules to support the learning outcomes. Direct and indirect assessment supports the conclusion that students are improving in relevant technical skills and that the course modifications are improving performance [5]. The present article assesses the impact of the three-semester sequence on development of an entrepreneurial mindset in the CDS capstone design experience.…”

“…A brief description of the three course sequence is provided below. Details on the learning objectives, session-by-session class schedule, and assessment of technical dimensions of the learning objectives were previously described in [5] and are not repeated here except as necessary to describe those features associated with an entrepreneurial mindset.…”

“…Inclusion of entrepreneurial education is a valuable addition to the traditional engineering curriculum [24,25,26] and aligns with portions of ABET Criterion 3 a-k [27], though more discussion is warranted with approved ABET student outcome revisions [28]. As described above, learning objectives for the three-semester sequence are provided in [5]. Each learning objective was assigned to a Bloom's taxonomy level [4] making it possible to ensure that objectives are appropriate to the course level.…”

“…and "The open-ended nature of the project motivated me to do my best work." Details on survey results associated with general prompts are provided in [5].…”

“…The fourth portion of the survey asked students to respond to prompts about improvement in technical skills with a 5-point Likert scale. Details on survey results associated with technical skills are provided in [5]. Finally, students were provided with several open-ended response prompts: "What did you like (or appreciate) about the project?…”