To complete the discussion of the senior design class, two other areas require comment. The first is the issue of "build vs paper" design. Our building activity is strictly limited, although we do have students make an airplane. The benefit of actually building what you design is that the evaluation is immediate and does not lead to an argument with the instructor. The design works or it doesn't. Our problem is that our students are not skilled craftsmen, and a key element of our course is the design and integration of a system of components. This leads to complicated systems to build. We currently rely on instructor evaluations, with the instructors being willing to argue the viability of a design. However, there are at least two high quality aircraft design courses where the students make their designs and see them flown. These programs are at Notre Dame (Batill, 1992) and NC State (Perkins, 1989).
The other issue is project management techniques for engineering projects. Since this automatically entails teams, it can also be viewed as a team development process. There is simply no room in the design class to provide a good introduction to this material. Although it seems essential, it does not seem to fit anywhere else in our program. Fortunately, the Assistant Dean, Pamela Kurstedt, has begun to offer a one-hour credit course that provides these ideas. It is a college-wide course, and is best for our students if taken during the spring semester of their junior year. Given for the first time in the spring of 1995, our students that took it said it should be a required course. The course is being offered this fall, with additional emphasis on international issues. The students participating in this class will work with European students and go to Europe in January. This is a good solution to an important need in our program.