A hands-on approach to senior design class in engineering technology

The following paper discusses an industry and real-world oriented approach in teaching senior design course to a multi-disciplinary class in engineering technology. The aim of the course was to make the students creatively think about a product and then manufacture it within time and fiscal constraints. This exposed the students to the challenging engineering demands encountered during product selection, design and manufacturing in a real industrial environment. Also, during product selection and manufacturing process, the creativity involved in overcoming constrained conditions brought out the entrepreneurial and managerial skills of the students. These business skills are seldom tapped in a senior design class and were added as an important feature in this course. The student groups, at the end of the course, had to present their product in front of a technical audience comprising of faculty, students and industrial representatives. The audience evaluated the presentation and this carried the major weightage during grading.