Pan-mentoring in creative engineering design – the coordination of individual and team creativity

Pan-mentoring is an approach to creative engineering design education establishing a close relationship with and within design teams of students. This paper focuses on the role of the pan-mentor in creative engineering design as a coordinator of individual creativity and team creativity. Globalization and fast changing technologies require that engineering design education prepare students to become flexible, innovative, and resourceful engineers. This translates into an emphasis on creativity in a wider sense than is currently practiced. Such an approach involves: analyzing individual learning types; providing engineering design tools, such as hand sketches; and introducing evolutionary design. This also involves exploring the notion of team creativity, including gender and ethnicity issues. In this context the role of the pan-mentor consists of: helping students to effectively tap their creativity as individuals and as teams; guiding them through the design process at both the individual and team level; and encouraging self-reflection and assessment. This paper will show that the coordination of individual and team creativity under the guidance of a pan-mentor can enhance engineering design education and help to prepare students for a fast changing future