Introduction

Lifelong learning has been the focus of learner-centered Experiential Learning programs that are developed to prepare undergraduate students for a rapidly changing world. Most Experiential Learning courses within Engineering programs that are developed to build a foundation for undergraduate engineering students to become lifelong learners, are project-based so they can provide an opportunity for students to practice design thinking process along with other technical skills. Engineering students are usually competent with the technical aspects of the design thinking process such as testing and prototyping, however, they mostly struggle to grasp the importance of the early steps of the design thinking process, which are collecting information (from the client and other resources) and idea generation. Also, due to the nature of the technical courses that students take, especially at early stages of their studies, projects are more prescriptive which contribute to pushing students to jump to a solution without investigating lots of other viable options. This approach has a potential to kill creativity and result in a not-well-justified solution.

A new engineering design mindset that provides an opportunity for students to delay the decision making so they can understand the challenge better and explore more options, requires the development of new training resources. Active observation, deep listening, taking risks, idea generation, and embracing failures are key components of this new engineering design mindset that students have not been formally trained on. These skills that industry partners also expect new engineering graduates to have, are the basis of improvisation; however, to date, they have been mainly introduced and practiced in arts-based studies and activities. Recently, in some Canadian Universities including McMaster, there has been some development of activities and workshops in the Medical Schools to introduce the application of improvisation, but not much in Engineering.

In response to the training gap in the engineering experiential learning curriculum, series of online modules in the format of Pressbook are created that focus on the development of essential skills for success in experiential learning programs. This book, New Approaches to Engineering Design Thinking Mindset: Idea Generation, provides tools and techniques for different ways of generating ideas.

Although teamwork is a huge portion of engineering work, without individual training, often a few people do most of the group work. Therefore, the focus of these modules is training individuals in selected design thinking skills so they can contribute more when they join their team.

The developed resource includes two independent chapters that focus on some brainstorming techniques as well as biomimicry as new mindsets for idea generation. The resource has been created as a series of self-learning modules to support all undergraduate engineering students, regardless of their level of study. It can also serve as supplementary training modules for instructors.  Since each online module focuses on building different skills, they can be used in combination or individually. Educators can incorporate the modules at different points in their programs.

Note: This book is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA. However, all media used in the book are subject to CC BY-NC-ND license.

This project is made possible with funding by the Government of Ontario and through eCampusOntario’s support of the Virtual Learning Strategy. To learn more about the Virtual Learning Strategy visit: https://vls.ecampusontario.ca