Linking Academic Courses with Practical Hands-on Experience for Civil, Environmental and Geological Engineering Students

Civil, environmental and geological engineering students are often disconnected from hands-on activities related to their area of study for the first several years of their degree due to a focus on theory and fundamentals. This can lead to a failure to connect concepts between academic courses as well as high rates of transfer to other programs. This paper will present the implementation of a 2-day "design days’ event where civil, environmental and geological engineering students work in an open setting with a realistic problem they may encounter in future co-op jobs or upon graduation. Preliminary results of student feedback from the most recent design days showed students felt they were able to explore creative solutions to the design problem and have a better understanding of what is involved in an open design process While there was limited reporting of increased motivation in their current courses, they did report that the design days increased the likelihood that they would approach a professor or TA outside of class time or office hours. Overall, every students said they would participate in another similar event, including 46% stating strongly they would participate again.