Measuring the benefit of service oriented student design projects

The State of Tennessee Department of Education provides grant support to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) to design, prototype, test, evaluate and disseminate products, procedures, and services that apply adaptive and assistive technologies to children with special needs. Eight to sixteen projects have been completed by freshman and upper level students each year since the fall of 2005. The academic outcome of these projects is an opportunity for students to experience the design process, aid someonepsilas ability to be independent, and learn how engineering can benefit our society. The students who participate in these projects informally express they are motivated by knowing they have designed a device that can improve the life of a child. A recent formal survey of those students who have participated in these projects confirms this statement. It also presents some interesting findings with respect to why students choose particular projects to participate in and what they believe they have learned from the projects that is most beneficial to them.