Beyond the technical: The role of making a human connection when coaching engineering design teams

Michele Manuel, Ann McKenna

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

Educating and guiding undergraduate engineering design teams that perform at a high technical level can be accomplished by using a hierarchical coaching model. This coaching model ncorporates the use of graduate students as coaches to mentor successful design teams. One major benefit to this coaching model is the development of human connections between the oach and undergraduate design team. This enables the design team to become involved in the design project for reasons beyond that of just understanding the fundamental concepts of engineering and solving complex problems. This paper discusses the results of a study performed on undergraduate engineering design teams and their graduate student coaches during two consecutive years of the course. The results characterize the relative importance and role of a personal connection between the coach and the design team in successful coaching. We will outline a set of activities and interactions that will aid in the development of undergraduate design teams that perform at a high technical level.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
StatePublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes
Event2009 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition - Austin, TX, United States
Duration: Jun 14 2009Jun 17 2009

Keywords

  • Capstone design
  • Coaching
  • Design pedagogy
  • Engineering design
  • Teams and teamwork in design

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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