Conducting a design workshop in the classroom

The author describes the intent and format of a classroom design workshop. The goals of the design workshop and the design project are presented, and the results of the projects are compared with prior years' results when no design workshop was implemented. It is observed that the workshop technique can produce beneficial results for both students and professors working on design-oriented assignments. The methods described for the workshop can be applied in any technical class where the design activity attempts to solve a creative engineering application. The use of this approach in a senior-level course in electrical engineering technology at Purdue University is discussed.<>