Civil Engineering Capstone Design: Team Formation, Preparation, and Performance

摘要

The following paper describes our experiences working with student design teams in a new two-quarter capstone course in civil engineering. Each student completes a survey that defines his or her academic coursework, industrial experience, status with respect to Engineer-In-Training (EIT) certification, current grade point average, and experience with computer-aided design software. The course instructors use this information to subdivide the class into six-person teams, ensuring that each team has a comparable degree of background and experience. The teams are multi-disciplinary in that each member is assigned a specific civil engineering role that relates to his or her elective coursework and industrial experience. After forming teams, the students complete a three-part, month-long lesson on communication. The lesson includes presentations and activities that focus on team building, active listening, communication styles, and assertiveness. These lessons are described in the paper. The intent of the lessons is to prepare the students to successfully interact and work together over the six-month course sequence. The approach to forming and preparing student teams has proven successful, as evidenced by peer evaluations and by project assessments completed by faculty members and local engineering professionals.