Full paper: Re-imagining a first year design course to incorporate service-learning while minimizing traditional challenges

The University of South Florida is exploring the feasibility of a service-learning based first year engineering design course that addresses some traditional service-learning challenges. Some of these challenges include logistical difficulties with community partners, group work assessment and accountability, effectiveness of the course for students with varying skills, and the delicate balance between providing structure to help with project success and freedom to explore meaningful solutions. During the Fall 2017 semester, two sections of 45 students completed service-learning projects as part of their first year engineering design experience through a course uniquely designed to address these challenges. Students were given an adaptation of Gelmon [1] service-learning based pre- post- surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of the course.