Teaching a common engineering design course to first year engineering and engineering technology students: A case study

This paper describes the conversion of ET 002 (Introduction to Engineering Technology) and ED&G 100 (Engineering Design and Graphics) to a common course that provides an opportunity to both first-semester engineering and engineering technology students at the Altoona College of The Pennsylvania State University to learn engineering design process, write and present technical reports, and use appropriate software packages. The ET 002 course is a one credit-hour course required for all the first-semester engineering technology students at the Altoona College of The Pennsylvania State University. The ED&G 100 (Engineering Design & Graphics) course is a three credit-hour course required for all the first-semester engineering students at The Pennsylvania State University. As a result of this blending and transformation of ED&G 100 and ET 002, both engineering and engineering technology students are now able to learn engineering design methodology and apply it to design problems. The manuscript provides a detailed description of the above-mentioned transformation of ED&G 100 and ET 002. Additionally, information regarding the course assessment techniques used in the recently transformed ED&G 100 and ET 002 courses is presented.