A spiral curriculum in design and project management

This paper documents the design and implementation of a four year, five-course sequence in design and project management within a general engineering program at a large public institution. The design of the curriculum was inspired by the “spiral curriculum” concept, and as a result, seeks to build knowledge and skills related to engineering design and project management during each of the four years. Course descriptions and examples of the ways that knowledge is spiraled through each are provided. The first cohort to progress through the entire spiral graduated in Spring 2015; next steps will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the spiral through continued program assessment.