Evaluation and Refinement of a Restructured Introduction to Engineering Design Course Using Student Surveys and MBTI Data

A major restructuring of the Sophomore level “Introduction to Design Theory” course at the United States Air Force Academy has recently been completed. The most significant aspect of this restructuring is the addition of a redesign component to the course. In order to gauge the effectiveness of this restructuring, a questionnaire was developed to determine student rating of the course content lecture by lecture. Student responses are compared from before and after the restructuring. In addition, Myers/Briggs Types Indicator (MBTI) data are correlated with responses from specific lectures to determine if portions of the restructured course can be further improved. Results indicate that the course restructuring has been viewed positively by the students. Also, MBTI data indicate that, with additional effort towards providing “hands-on” experiences as well as increasing the amount of abstract content, the content can be better directed to the span of MBTI types. In addition, increased ties to student’s design projects and other relevant examples will further improve the present course.