Introducing design skills at the freshman level: structured design experience

Development of design skills in engineering students at United Arab Emirates University is achieved using an integrated learning approach which consists of structured, guided, and open-ended design experiences. This paper presents a description of the structured design experience in terms of main objectives, implementation mechanisms, and assessed outcomes as applied to freshman laboratory courses in the College of Engineering. These courses are developed to introduce structured design experience through step-by-step, hands-on procedures which guide students to complete particular learning assignments. The coursework spans a wide range of typical engineering practice, such as measurement, calibration, error and tolerance determination, data acquisition, and control. Finally, the course assessment mechanism is presented as a means of ensuring the successful achievement of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology educational outcomes