Engagement in Practice: Evaluating and Enhancing the Global Capstone Course

The Global Capstone course situated within the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering offers engineering students an opportunity to work collaboratively on real-world engineering problems with partnering international institutions and communities. The overarching aim of the course is to prepare students for the multidisciplinary and multicultural environment they will experience when entering the engineering workforce. As the workforce continues to become more diverse and the economy becomes more globalized, engineering students will need the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to work effectively and collaboratively across cultural and societal differences. To ensure that engineering students are equipped with the necessary skills and mindset to be effective in an increasingly diverse and global context, an assessment and reexamination of the capstone course learning outcomes is required. The Global Capstone Evaluation will explore the engineering student experiences working with and in diverse teams and stakeholders. Students engage with partners across the University as well as with partnering communities, organizations, and universities. This paper outlines the design of a baseline and post-course survey that assesses student experiences in engineering capstone courses and will be administered annually with the goal of uncovering the effectiveness of existing learning outcomes. By understanding the nuanced nature of working in a multidisciplinary and multicultural context in the engineering capstone courses, enhanced student learning outcomes and assessments can be developed to support the preparation of professional engineers entering the workforce. This paper will outline the process by which the Global Capstone Program was developed, reflect on the challenges associated with managing a complex program with real-world projects, and the plan for continuous improvement.