Capstone Design Experiences Across National and Cultural Borders: Course Development

Abstract

It is well recognized that the world is becoming a global village. Today's undergraduates will occupy workplaces and communities that have been transformed by globalization; they must learn to make connections across disciplinary, national, and cultural borders. To address the challenge of providing exposure to global/international dimensions without sacrificing technical content, we have previously proposed to use case studies in sophomore engineering science classes. In this paper, we extend the concept to capstone engineering design courses by focusing on solutions to global/international problems. Additionally, a Web-based instructional tool (WebCT) is used to enhance global/international awareness as well as intercultural communication skills. WebCT is also used to “take students there,” through movie clip