Work-in-progress-emphasizing human-centered design in the freshman year through an interactive engineering design process experience

Let's start with the basic idea of the engineering discipline: Problem-solving. At the base of all problems, there is a human with a need seeking a solution. At Lipscomb University, the engineering faculty have found that upper-level students lack experience in the human element of design. Specifically, students need improvement with client interactions, decision-making processes, holistic critical-thinking, and sustainable design. In the past, our college's engineering courses have generally focused on the analysis of a system rather than designing a solution to fit a human need. In order to address this concern, the college will redesign a freshman engineering course to better focus on the concepts in human-centered design. The students will be introduced to a five-step design process originally developed by Engineering for Change. A fundamental aspect of this design process is its iterative nature and its inherent focus on the human at the center of the problem-solving experience. The design process will be presented to the students through three interactive experiences.