Creative-Design Course for Engineering Freshmen

The nature and goals of a creative-design course for undergraduate engineering students are discussed. This course is designed to encourage creativity. Freshmen learn to use the basics of scientific, behavioral, and humanities courses in the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation that go into the design and building of a product. Students realize that in any solution to an engineering problem, complex decision-making is involved and there can be more than one solution. Emphasis is placed on good oral- and written-communication skills. Paper outlines the course organization and discusses its modification. Unique criteria for evaluation and grading are listed. Students have given high marks in their evaluation of the course. Limitations of the course are listed. Examples of group projects and the resulting products are described. Observations listed are a result of over 15 years of experience in teaching the course.