ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. Most engineering and engineering technology students are introduced to ‘real-world‘ problem solving in their coursework through a one or two semester senior capstone course. At the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, a one credit seminar course, taken each year of the program, is used to teach students the practical teamwork and problem solving skills they will need in industry. The objective of this paper is describe the course, compare to traditional one or two semester offerings, and test the hypothesis that by exposing students to projects over the duration of their college careers, they begin to value many of the fundamentals that 1^st or 2^nd year students do not find valuable, such as group work, communication, and the open-ended nature of many projects. Student perception of the degree to which they acquired problem solving skills, communication skills and the ability to work in teams was also assessed. A survey was distributed to students, who were asked for their reactions on a variety of themes, ranging from their overall satisfaction with the course, their ability to work in teams and their perceived work contribution in comparison to their teammates, their perceived ability to formulate a scope of work, schedule, and provide communication relating to project status throughout the semester, and how these perceptions change moving from freshman to senior status. Responses were noted using a five-point Likert scale. Differences were evaluated based on academic standing (i.e., freshmen, sophomore, etc.). The non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used to identify if there were differences in responses to questions at α = 0.10. If differences amongst classes were present, they were identified using the Mann-Whitney test, also at α = 0.10. Four out of 20 ordinal response questions resulted in a statistical difference. In general, students agreed that the course was valuable, students‘ knowledge was increased each semester they took the course, and that the students perceived their skills related to key learning outcomes were improved. The median response of seniors was significantly greater than both freshmen and sophomores in response to their confidence in their ability to lead a team. Upperclassmen perceived that they did more work on projects compared to underclassmen. This result combined with other assessment tools leads us to conclude that a more formal mentor/mentee structure needs to be put in place. The results of this study confirm that students‘ perceive the current 4-yr course format is valuable, and that perception did not vary by academic standing.