ABSTRACT
The primary role of a civil engineer is to serve the community; thus, it is essential that students understand the impact of engineering projects on, and the context of engineering projects within, society. One goal of an engineering capstone design course should be to mesh the technical knowledge of the discipline with an encompassing engineering problem that incorporates “real world” issues and challenges. With all of the aforementioned criteria in mind, the objective of Villanova University’s structural capstone course described herein is to integrate technical and non-technical issues through a challenging real world project. This paper presents the development, implementation, objectives, and assessment of a structural engineering capstone course that incorporates an international service project. All data indicates that the students participating on the service trip achieve significantly higher non-technical outcomes compared to those students who work solely on the design project.
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MULTIMEDIA
- Video: Virtual Tour
- Video: Example Technical Lecture
- Video: Example Non-technical Lecture
- Personal Journals – 2008 Villanova Engineering Mission Trip (PDF: 62KB)
- Website: Students leave daily messages to their family and friends reflecting on the day’s events. Family, friends, trip alumni, and local elementary schools follow the groups’ progress through the week and leave messages for the students. – PDF of website on 04/29/2010 (PDF: 1,489KB)
- Students work in groups to create one poster focusing on the construction work (technical). (PDF: 1,659KB)
- Students work in groups to create one poster focusing on the relationships developed with the boys (non-technical). (PDF: 5,144KB)
- Structural Capstone Post-Survey. (PDF: 173KB)
- Video: Client presentation and fly over.
- Powerpoint show of Dinehart and Gross, 2007. (PowerPoint Show: 20,154KB)
David W. Dinehart
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Villanova University
Shawn P. Gross
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Villanova University