A Curriculum Model: Engineering Design Graphics Course Updates Based on Industrial and Academic Institution Requirements

Abstract

Engineering design graphics courses taught in colleges or universities should provide and equip students preparing for employment with the basic occupational graphics skill competences required by engineering and technology disciplines.  Academic institutions should introduce and include topics that cover the newer and more efficient graphics techniques and technologies developed through research by academic institutions and professional organizations as well as information obtained from experienced engineering design graphics practitioners.  This paper presents the systematic approach used at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK), Department of Industrial Technology (ITEC), to update and improve its existing multidiscipline engineering design graphics course.

Twenty five engineering design graphics course syllabi, all from programs accredited by either the Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering (ATMAE) or the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), were reviewed in this study.  A review of the course syllabi identified 20 of the most commonly taught engineering design graphics topics.  The 20 topics were used to develop a survey instrument subsequently sent to the top 10 employers of ITEC students majoring in Construction Management, Industrial Distribution, and Telecommunications Management.  The results obtained from the employer survey were analyzed and used to update the introductory engineering design graphics course at UNK so that engineering design graphics topics taught are consistent with academia and kept current and relevant to the needs of industry.