The process of designing a design process: An outside-the-box engineering technology capstone course

The Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) program at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) caters to a unique and diverse population of students. The students entering the program are divided between individuals fresh out of high school and preparing to pursue degrees full-time with an expectation of completion in four years and those who have already begun careers in industry and are seeking to improve their opportunities for advancement and whose expectation for graduation is further in the future. Thus, in catering to this diverse community of students, IUPUI's MET program has experimented with some innovative, and non-traditional, approaches to course design. One area where this innovation has proved noteworthy is in the design of the MET capstone course, where three different formats are employed in an effort to meet the needs of the student population. This paper discusses one of those options which stretches the boundaries of capstone pedagogy and tradition.