Switching Gears in Machine Design; A Focus Toward Technical Writing Skills in Lieu of a Hands-On Semester Design and Fabrication Project

In light of the recent global pandemic, many universities have decidedly transitioned to fully online.The obvious consequence being that technical hands-on activities are essentially no longer possible.Mechanical Engineering Design (i.e., Machine Design) at California State University Chico normally facilitates a semester-long design and fabrication project to give students a real-world engineering experience.As an alternative, this paper considers the effectiveness and benefit of focusing on the documentation and presentation of engineering analysis and design work rather than hands-on projects.In a series of activity assignments, students are required to compose short technical reports which document their engineering analysis in professional form.Each subsequent assignment had an increased level of analysis complexity and documentation which related to the course material.A mid-semester survey was administered to help improve this learning modality, and a second survey near the end looked to quantify any said benefits of improved student outcomes.Student feedback and their measured performances on each technical writing assignment is presented herein.