{"id":19895,"date":"2017-05-08T08:22:17","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T12:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/?p=19895"},"modified":"2021-08-13T10:10:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T14:10:40","slug":"simulating-industry-within-classroom-engineering-capstone-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2017\/simulating-industry-within-classroom-engineering-capstone-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Simulating industry within the classroom: Engineering capstone projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emily Cook, TLS Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n

There are only so many things professors can teach students before they need real-life experiences. That\u2019s where capstone projects come in, bringing industry to the classroom.<\/p>\n

A capstone project is an experiential type of assignment that students complete over the course of their final year. While some capstone projects, such as those in civil engineering, are done individually, others see students put into groups with 20-30 peers across multiple disciplines. But while the types of projects differ by discipline, all have the goal of simulating an industry experience.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Laliberte is the mechanical and aerospace engineering capstone project coordinator at Carleton. He says students, instructors, the outside community, or combinations of all three propose project topics. The projects are designed to be long-term and to have sustained real-world impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s many opportunities for the students to stand up, put their work out there, get feedback from their peers, and from the lead engineers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Civil and environmental engineering professor Jeffrey Erochko and mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Cynthia Cruickshank are lead engineers on a high-performance building project.<\/p>\n

Cruickshank says their project uses cuPortfolio to help them assess all the students on one platform, and allow students to take their work with them when they graduate. Since their project combines students from multiple departments, Erochko says they rely on the expertise of lead engineers to assess individual student roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students are aware it doesn\u2019t just have to do with quantity because everyone else is depending on the work you\u2019re doing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Cruickshank says most mechanical and aerospace engineering capstone projects have three to four lead engineers managing, on average, 25-30 students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s run kind of as a mock industry experience,\u201d Erochko says, \u201cSo it\u2019s a privileged time in their university career at the very end where we can bridge them out to likely what they\u2019re going to experience when they graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n

To help manage and guide students, Cruickshank says the lead engineers of their project meet weekly with smaller groups of students. In these meetings, the lead engineers give general guidance on projects, feedback on drawings or advice on how to develop presentation skills to help students learn how to express their ideas to future employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure they grow as an individual and as an engineer to be,\u201d she says, \u201cWe really just want to see that growth, and that\u2019s what\u2019s really rewarding for us to see throughout the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the course running the entire year, Cruickshank says it provides a great opportunity to get to know students better and connect on a more personal level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a chance to really bond with the students, to help them and mentor them, as we were mentored when we were in undergrad,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Silas Graham, a fourth-year aerospace student, says support from professors in weekly and one-on-one meetings has helped bridge the learning gap between the classroom and the real world.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur professors really tried to aim at making this more like industry,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s capstone project has 25 students from aerospace and mechanical engineering split into two teams to simulate industry competition. He says a major challenge with this project compared to other engineering courses is the group size because the weight of deadlines and schedules becomes much more real.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt affects other team members who are relying on the results of your work, so it\u2019s definitely a different teamwork dynamic,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Students have two design reviews during the year, one at the end of the fall semester and one at the end of spring. During the spring review, industry professionals specific to the project field are invited to watch the group presentations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to learn in a context like this, than to be exposed to that for the first time in industry,\u201d Graham says.<\/p>\n

Laliberte says the success of these projects rides on one thing: the professors creating a space where students feel free to create, make mistakes, and speak up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt begins with the faculty,\u201d he says. \u201cThe faculty themselves have to show that they can communicate with each other and that they\u2019re open and approachable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emily Cook, TLS Staff Writer There are only so many things professors can teach students before they need real-life experiences. That\u2019s where capstone projects come in, bringing industry to the classroom. A capstone project is an experiential type of assignment that students complete over the course of their final year. While some capstone projects, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[534],"yoast_head":"\nSimulating industry within the classroom: Engineering capstone projects - Teaching and Learning Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Emily Cook, TLS Staff Writer There are only so many things professors can teach students before they need real-life experiences. 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