Incorporation of Poverty Alleviation in Third World Countries in a First-Year Engineering Capstone Course

摘要

The engineering curriculum at Ohio Northern University includes a one year introduction to engineering course sequence culminating in a one quarter first-year capstone design course. A requirement for projects to involve the design of a poverty alleviation device was recently introduced. The initial implementation required student teams to identify an impoverished country (using the World Bank's definition) and address a specific need of the population. The project requirements include following and documenting the engineering design process, preparation of a proposal, regular verbal and written status reports, and both development and presentation of a prototype. The poverty alleviation requirement has allowed students to directly experience multiple learning outcomes as specified in ABET assessment criteria including understanding engineering in a global and societal context, along with criteria typically found in a capstone course such as the ability to function in teams and to communicate effectively. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the project showed that students felt the experience related to societal and realistic constraints. Based on the evaluation of data from the initial offering of this course, recommendations for both course improvements and future research are presented.