Senior design as an agent for change in engineering education

The Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments at Michigan State University (MSU) and Lake Superior State University (LSSU) collaborated in a multifaceted, multi-year project to experiment with new ideas for the senior design experience and to develop new experiments for instructional embedded systems laboratories. In this paper, we describe the joint MSU-LSSU project, including the distributed teaming, the distributed remote monitoring and control concepts and technologies, and the transfer of components to an undergraduate instructional laboratory. We have found, through this joint project and related projects, that senior design is an agent for change in engineering education. In particular, it brings students into the change process directly and in a role that leverages their educational experiences. We present our experiences and observations on the effectiveness of upgrading and improving instructional laboratories using senior design teams.