A challenge facing many institutions is how to bring "real" design experiences into the curriculum. Industry-inspired projects are often used in design classes, but the community can offer a plethora of compelling projects that challenge students in many ways and offer opportunities for students to make an impact in their local and global communities. One engineering engagement program has used community-engaged learning to create a human-centered design learning experience that benefits students and creates tangible benefits to community organizations. This paper explores two interrelated elements of this design learning experience: how students use prototypes in the design process, and how students perceive project specifications and use those specifications in the evaluation of prototypes. Prototyping is emphasized through the design process and different ways that prototypes are used are described. Examples are provided to demonstrate the breadth of projects and the roles of prototyping within the program. The understanding of the Specification Development phase of the design is explored with three different interventions to enhance student awareness of requirements. Representations of the design process created by students showed inconclusive results for the interventions. The representations pointed to the dominance of the learning in the actual design experience and implies that interventions would be more effective within the context of their specific designs.
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