Engineering Education for Inclusive Design

Rose-Hulman Institute Of Technology, Terre Haute IN

Investigators

Abstract

There is growing consensus in engineering that a fundamental change is required in the education of future engineers to ensure that they be well prepared for their roles in the 21st century. The demands relate both to their success in the job market and to their responsibilities as inventors and innovators of powerful tools and technologies that are increasingly permeating all aspects of our society. In addition to strong technical capability and management skills, future engineers need to develop the understanding and skills needed to design products and services that can serve the diverse needs of different countries, cultures, and peoples. In response to an increasing global economy and marketplace, the changing demographics in our society and workforce, and government requirements for product accessibility, industry is increasingly developing more inclusive approaches to design. Inclusive design of technology means developing systems flexible enough to serve the broadest possible range of users. Curb cuts, for example, were originally designed for wheelchair users, but parents with strollers, bicyclists, youth on skateboards, and senior citizens benefit from them, too. The proposed project is a collaborative effort between Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT), Innoventure, the Education Development Center (EDC), and the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM). The overall goal of this project is to develop and broadly disseminate curriculum materials and activities that facilitate the integration of inclusive design concepts into undergraduate engineering curricula. To accomplish this goal, the Engineering Education for Inclusive Design Project will undertake two major activities: (1) RHIT faculty members, in collaboration with staff members from EDC and NCAM, will develop, implement and formatively evaluate case-based approaches towards teaching inclusive design concepts and skills to undergraduate engineering education students. Project staff will develop case studies of inclusive design projects and design instructional activities to accompany the case material. The case materials and activities will be incorporated in several different engineering courses at RHIT, evaluated for their impact on students, and revised based on the results of the pilot tests. (2) The inclusive design case materials and activities will be broadly disseminated both among faculty at RHIT and nationally among other engineering schools through a variety of means: (a) summer faculty workshops hosted by RHIT that will introduce participants to the case-based approach towards teaching inclusive design; (b) through the Engineering Case Library sponsored by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and housed at RHIT in print and electronic formats (world wide web); (c) and through papers and reports, including proceedings of the summer faculty seminars. These publications will be disseminated nationally in print and electronic formats to schools of engineering, professional organizations, industry councils, and foundations.