Innovation to Entrepreneurship in the First Year Engineering Experience

Abstract

Abstract Innovation to Entrepreneurship in the First Year Engineering Experience Traditionally first year engineering programs focus on fundamental engineering skills andintroduce students to the engineering design process. More recently using the KEEN (KernEntrepreneurial Engineering Network) philosophy there is momentum to push engineeringeducation further by fostering an entrepreneurial mindset in young engineers. At XXXUniversity the first year engineering program has been revamped using a combination ofelements including entrepreneurially minded learning (EML), Problem Based Learning (PBL),Active Collaborative Learning (ACL) and a design framework based on the “living with the lab”program developed at YYY University (NOTE YYY University is not associated with thisabstract) under a National Science Foundation award. The First Year Engineering program at XXX University spans four common courses for allengineering majors. This work focuses on two courses, the Introduction to Engineering course, afour credit course offered in the first semester and the Data Acquisition and Processing course, athree credit course offered in the second semester. The framework behind the Introduction toEngineering course is a series four challenges based off of an arduino robot platform. Throughthis platform traditional skills such as computer aided design (CAD), basic programming,teaming, basic statistics, innovation, the engineering design process, technical writing and oralcommunications are taught using both ACL and PBL techniques. A degree of EML is presentedin this course through artificial budget requirements that are built into the projects. Moving into the second semester first year students are guided further in EML concepts in theData Acquisition and Processing course. In this course a smart design project forms the basis ofthe EML experience which includes such skills as seeking opportunities using painstorming,accessing market interest, accessing technical feasibility, designing for manufacturability, andproviding a cost analysis of an eventual finalized product. The entrepreneurial impact of this comprehensive program is assessed through surveys whichgage the students’ awareness of EML concepts. This paper will present an overview of the ACL, PBL and EML techniques used in the FirstYear Engineering Program at XXX University. Note that a companion paper focusing on thesmart design projects is being submitted concurrently.