Evaluating and Extending the Reach of the Canadian Design Workshop

Grant Recipients

Steve Lambert, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering

Ada Hurst, Management Sciences

Chris Rennick, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering

(Project timeline: May 2020 - April 2021)

Description

  • This project will help Faculty of Engineering faculty and staff to establish the Canadian Design Workshop (CDW), a small conference that took place in July of 2020. The CDW is a network of Canadian engineering design educators and researchers to share experiences and current research.

Areas Investigated

  • Evaluating the effectiveness of the inaugural Canadian Design Workshop (CDW) at achieving its stated goals.
  • Describing the current design education landscape in Canada, as evidenced by presentations and discussions at the CDW. 

Findings

  • CDW attendees indicated that they wish to engage in more conversations surround diversity and inclusion, and how to embed the idea of designing within a larger socio-technical society in engineering education, among other areas of exploration.
  • The first edition of CDW built and strengthened networks for future engineering collaboration. Attendee feedback for the workshop was positive.
  • Common themes found within the workshop were:
    • Instruction of design in the middle years of engineering programs.
    • The need to overcome challenges to implementing more design instruction and creative approaches.
    • Sustainability, transdisciplinary, hackathon, design studio cloud CAD, and reflection.

Survey Question Responses

“What did you learn at CDW1”

Responses include:

  • How Canadian universities differ in their approaches to engineering education 
  • How to implement hackathons into design education 
  • How design exposure is currently scaffolded during undergraduate programs and how there should be more interventions throughout the degree 
  • Facilitating creativity is often overlooked in favour of teaching core engineering concepts

“Were there any takeaways from CDW1 that you have implemented (or plan to implement) in your design instruction and/or research? If so, what were they? How has your instruction and/or research changed?”

Responses include: 

  • An inter-university design course 
  • More emphasis on group dynamics and social impact in design courses 
  • Curricular hackathons 
  • Ideas on curriculum and course design 
  • New design research directions and possible collaborations 
  • How to generate interactivity in remote, synchronous sessions 
  • Research on design from a systems thinking perspective

Dissemination and Impact 

  • An overview of the workshop was presented at the Clive L. Dym Mudd Design Workshop XII, held virtually on May 27-29, 2021. The presentation was titled “Overview of the inaugural Canadian Design Workshop (CDW1): from Vision to Evaluation”, and was presented by Meagan Flus.
  • Outcomes of the CDW were also summarized at a workshop held at the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) Annual Conference, held virtually on June 20-23, 2021. The workshop was titled “Sustaining a network of design education practice and research in Canada” and held jointly with the Design Education SIG of CEEA.