A Report on a New Design Spine Implementation

Innovative Practice and Work-In-Progress Paper. The modern apprentice engineer faces new challenges throughout their career. From having to continuously retrain in industry to preparing for industries that may not exist yet, the engineering-in-training needs a new set of adaptable tools to prepare himself for the future. One such methodology that attempts to prepare the apprentice engineer is the design spine methodology. The design spine methodology has been studied elsewhere in other contexts, and at its core it involves enrolling and engaging in design activities throughout the engineering curriculum.In year three after establishing a new program in engineering based upon the design spine methodology at a liberal arts college, we hope to share with the community a variety of the design spine methodology (we call the DesignSpine), that has a number of facets we believe make it a powerful educational paradigm.