Pedagogical and organizational components and issues of externally sponsored senior design teams

The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology requires all graduates to complete a year long (3 quarter) design project sequence. The sequence was first offered in the 1997-1998 academic year. The project series involves student teams working on externally sponsored design projects. The paper presents a discussion of the organization of the sequence specifically from the academic and pedagogical standpoint-team formation, team and individual performance assessment, design reviews, and written and oral communication assessment. The peer evaluation and assessment process, the project application procedure and the related forms are presented and discussed. Additionally, scheduling and human resource (faculty and staff) issues are discussed. A summary of the results from the three academic year offerings and proposed changes is included.