Work in Progress: A Conceptual Design Project for Civil Engineering Freshmen to Enhance Their Entrepreneurial Mindset

Past offerings of the introduction to civil engineering course at a University simply introduced freshmen students to the various sub-disciplines of civil engineering and required students to give a research presentation and complete a small team project. The course was recently restructured to focus more on communication skills, teamwork, and the design process while still incorporating the civil engineering sub-disciplines. In particular, a conceptual design project was implemented to potentially enhance students' entrepreneurial mindset by using the Disney Imagineering Process, specifically to generate curiosity, illustrate the connections of various engineering disciplines, and help students to understand value creation. This paper provides an overview of the restructured course and the details of the conceptual design project. Fifteen students were divided into four groups, which were each asked to complete a conceptual design of hypothetical theme park resorts. Students were first taught how to use Sketchup and Google Earth and were then guided through a five-week design process that included several milestones. The first and second weeks focused on brainstorming sessions and concept design, respectively. Students used large-scale maps and LEGOs to develop physical models to visualize their conceptual designs. The third and fourth weeks focused on transforming the physical models into more detailed conceptual designs using Sketchup and Google Earth. Lastly, students developed a presentation to pitch their design to a group of investors (i.e. civil engineering faculty). Each student was asked to take the ESEMA survey before and after the project assignment to evaluate the effect of the project on their entrepreneurial mindset. Additionally, some open-ended questions about the project were added on to the post-survey. The paper also discusses the results of that survey along with lessons learned from the projects' implementation and the expected changes for the project moving forward.