Background: A redesigned curriculum for teaching engineering graphics was adopted in an introductory mechanical engineering course. The rollout of this curriculum was staggered, allowing for comparisons of student perceptions across the newly revised and previous instructional approaches. The new curriculum borrows from content and pedagogy…

Engineering design is known as an answer to an ill-defined problem. As any answer to an ill-defined problem, it can never be completely right or absolutely wrong. The methods that universities use to teach engineering design, as a consequence of this, suffer from the same fate. However, the accumulated experience with the "chalk and…

Students often have difficulty grasping the principles of dimensional tolerances and frequently fail to recognize that dimensioning practice has a significant impact on the tolerance of part features. This observation may be attributed to several factors, not the least of which are changes in prior student education and life experiences and…

While the changing nature of design activity is a topic supported by a range of popular and academic publications, the role that design tools have taken in that change is less well studied. The tools used in the trade, both by industrial designers and mechanical engineers, have undergone a rapid transformation in the last fifty years. The research…

In recent years major changes have been introduced into the system of higher education in the common European Higher Educational Area (EHEA). On account of the Bologna Process the EHEA is leading to greater compatibility and comparability of the systems of higher education and is making it easier for learners to be mobile and for institutions to…

Engineering design graphics courses taught in colleges or universities should provide and equip students preparing for employment with the basic occupational graphics skill competences required by engineering and technology disciplines. Academic institutions should introduce and include topics that cover the newer and more efficient graphics…

This report investigates the feasibility of including computer aided design (CAD) materials in engineering courses. Section 1 briefly discusses the inevitability of CAD being adopted widely by British industry and the consequent need for its inclusion in engineering syllabi at all levels. A short description of what is meant by CAD follows in…

Discussion of technical education as part of the engineering education curriculum focuses on the effects of computerization, specifically the computerization of technical drawing. Topics include computer-aided graphics, computer-aided design, and the need for curriculum changes to allow more hours of practical work. (Author/LRW)

This presentation outlines guidelines for developing and implementing an introductory course in computer-aided drafting (CAD) that is geared toward secondary-level students. The first section of the paper, which deals with content identification and selection, includes lists of mechanical drawing and CAD competencies and a list of rationales for…

North Seattle Community College decided to integrate computer-aided design/drafting (CAD/D) into its Electro-Mechanical Drafting Program. This choice necessitated a redefinition of the program through new curriculum and course development. To initiate the project, a new industrial advisory council was formed. Major electronic and recruiting firms…

This industrial arts curriculum guide for drafting is divided into two parts. The information in Part 1, Overview, should be considered directions for delineating the requirements of physical facilities, tools, instruments, equipments, machines, instructional materials, procedures, processes for guidance, research, implementation, and evaluation…

Intended for use in competency-based and criterion-referenced vocational programs, this articulated, performance-based instruction objectives guide for Drafting I is designed for reference use in the articulation of drafting programs at the secondary and postsecondary levels. It consists of a description of the development of the guide, 14…

This document is a competency-based curriculum guide designed to promote articulation in drafting programs between and among secondary and postsecondary institutions in the Indian Hills Community College and Merged Area XV high schools in Iowa. The guide is organized in 12 sections. The first six sections provide background information about the…