Engineering Design & Society: A First-Year Course Teaching Human-Centered Design

How do you get first-year engineering students to stay in engineering? Get them to care! A first-year multidisciplinary engineering design course was developed and that emphasizes the human-centered design process. Students learn hands-on maker tools and software to fully design and build a prototype based on a societal need. An open-ended design challenge is presented to students to help humanity in a way that tells the story of engineering as a field to help the world through thoughtful human-centered design. This work presents the story of the formation of a human-centered design course, outlining the structure of the course, goals, maker-tools covered and flipped-classroom format for active-learning delivery of the first-year engineering design experience. Examples of human-centered topics considered for first-year design prototypes include food stability (self-watering planters), sustainable energy (non-traditional power generation), tools for disabilities (toys for children with prosthetics), etc. The Engineering Design & Society human-centered course aims to inspire engineering students to become makers to help humanity. Students are empowered through the impact their inventions can make to serve society and improve the lives of others through engineering.