Perspectives on engineering design learning: Realities, challenges, and recommendations

Design is considered by most to be the central activity of engineering. Also, it is known that engineering programs should graduate engineers who can design effectively to meet social and environmental needs. Though the role and perception of design across a wide range of educational institutions have improved markedly in recent years; however, both, design faculty & design practitioners argue that further improvements are necessary. One of the defining characteristics of design is that there is rarely a single correct answer to an engineering problem but, rather, an optimal or acceptable solution leading to a final design, presented as the best possible balance between technical as well as non-technical constraints. These nontechnical constraints typically involve economics, politics, social and environmental issues, ethics, etc. And, while professional practitioners generally accept this understanding of design, students, by enlarge, tend to interpret the engineering design process as an unambiguous and clearly defined process supported by rigidly applied principles and processes of “the scientific method.” Students' vision and mis-concepts of design do require proper alignment with prevailing conditions on the ground. Undoubtedly, the start of any design course should be preceded by exposure to design thinking and related processes. The paper reviews the role of design in engineering programs, and outlines the current research on how design thinking processes could be taught and learned. It explores also the currently most-favored pedagogical model for teaching design, namely: Project-Based Learning (PBL). The paper identifies several contexts for PBL, along with some available data on it success. Finally, the paper raises some of the questions that should be answered to identify the most effective pedagogical practices of improving design learning.