Capstone Design and Psychology: Teams, Traits, and Competencies Measured in Student Surveys

Aerospace engineering students at the Florida Institute of Technology are required to complete a 3-semester capstone design project. In their junior year students propose topics, form teams, and write a proposal for their senior project, then as seniors they complete preliminary and detailed design, then fabricate and test their system. Their efforts culminate in a Student Design Showcase, where industry participants judge the final projects. Many students identify the capstone design project as the most significant event in their academic career. In this paper we describe changes made in the aerospace engineering capstone curriculum during the 2016-2017 season and report results from surveys administered by the School of Psychology during that period. The course modification goals were to improve project quality, increase student engagement, and emphasize "real-world" professional skills like self-management, teamwork, and communication. Students took individual difference and process surveys hosted by the School of Psychology to capture these professional skills. The first student survey measured individual differences that are generally considered relatively stable over time and are predictive of performance; these individual differences include personality traits (e.g., introversion, conscientiousness) and competencies (e.g., political skills, adaptability). Students then completed a series of process surveys designed to gain insight on team behavior and performance over the life of the project. Average student scores on personality traits and competencies were compared to see if there was a change before and after the completion of capstone design. Introduction Aerospace engineering capstone design at the Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) is a three-semester course sequence that begins in spring of the junior year. In the 1-credit Junior Design course, students identify topics, form teams, and develop a project proposal. Two threecredit classes follow in the fall and spring of the senior year. In Senior Design 1, students develop detailed requirements, complete a Preliminary Design Review, and present their final designs at a Critical Design Review. In Senior Design 2, students purchase components, fabricate their system, and test it against requirements. The highlight of the spring semester occurs in April, where students from all majors present their projects in a large Student Design Showcase to industry, the university community, and the public. Industry representatives judge the projects and award top prizes for different categories. In prior years, a different instructor would teach aerospace capstone design for each graduating class. One instructor would teach the same students from Junior Design through Senior Design 2, and then a new instructor would start with a new class of juniors the following spring. Interaction between the College of Engineering and the School of Psychology was limited, and the processes for surveying capstone teams were not yet well established. In 2016, two changes occurreda new instructor was permanently assigned to teach the aerospace capstone classes (i.e., the first author), and collaboration began on research with the School of Psychology’s Relationship and Interaction Optimization in Teams (RIOT) Lab (which include the second and third authors). In this paper we report changes made to the capstone courses during the 2016-2017 academic cycle and explore potential student development outcomes in response to the course design elements as a part of the broader RIOT research effort. Though the capstone program is considered highly successful at Florida Tech, previous instructors have noted that some teams struggled with leadership and teamwork issues, and not all students on every team were fully engaged and contributing their best efforts. (These student teams are self-organized and appoint their own leaders.) Due to the complexity and cost of the aerospace engineering projects, teams tend to be largebetween 6-12 students per team. Large teams contribute to the potential for some students "coasting" on the work of others, possibly due to a lack of commitment to the project or poor leadership and delegation skills within the team. The course was modified to give students increased choice in topic selection, increase emphasis on self-management and professional /political skills in course lectures and assignments, include coaching of student leaders on how to deal with management issues within their team, and to introduce team time cards in conjunction with an instructor evaluation and peer feedback to increase individual accountability. Our goals were to improve the capstone design experience for the aerospace engineering students, and to better understand the evolution of students as individuals and in their team relationships. Changes to the Aerospace Capstone Design Course during the 2016-2017 Program. Increased Student Choice in Topic Selection. Marin et.al. identified student ownership as one part of designing an optimal experience for capstone design [1], and we hypothesized that if students were allowed a chance to research possible topic areas, propose projects to their peers, and have an element of choice in which topics went forward, it would broaden the base of possible creative ideas, increase student enthusiasm for the class, and deepen their level of commitment to their specific project. This approach is also consistent with Florida Tech’s participation in the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN), which seeks to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in students [2]. In the aerospace capstone program, some topics are predefined by industry or research sponsors, but many can be defined by the instructor. In previous years, some effort was made to obtain student input, but approaches varied with the instructor and minimal class time was used to explore options. With the new approach, the instructor defined boundaries of what was considered an acceptable topic in the first week of class, and then students identified their ideas for a capstone project in a writing assignment. The instructor presented the general themes of interest to the class and provided private feedback on ideas considered too risky or ambitious. Students were allowed in-class time to network with others and to present acceptable topics to the entire class. The class voted on the topics, and the favorites were approved for implementation. Next students identified their top three project choices and how strongly they felt about each choice, and the instructor made team assignments based on their requests. As part of the topic assignment request, students were asked to rate their own ability in areas such working in teams, creating technical drawings, conducting engineering analysis, fabrication and machine shop skills, and writing, but student preference was prioritized over balancing skills across teams. This approach described worked well in Spring 2016 and was also implemented the next time the class was offered in 2017. Emphasis on Self-Management and Professional /Political Skills Though the practice of engineering requires a highly technical skill set, most in the field would agree that self-management and the ability to work with others are also very important. Contrary to popular stereotypes, engineers spend a surprisingly large amount of time interacting with other people to coordinate and complete work [3]. Industry representatives have identified that desirable attributes of an engineer include good communication skills, high ethical standards, the ability and self-confidence to adapt to rapid or major change, the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams and a profound understanding of the importance of teamwork [4]. In the RIOT team surveys, "Political Skill" (described in the next section) measures these competencies in the individual differences surveys. We hypothesized that explicitly addressing these "soft topics" before the capstone teams were formed would increase student awareness of their importance and provide specific tools to help with self-management and team cohesion. Florida Tech students come from over 50 countries with diverse cultures and international students made up 39% of the class, so we also believed that presenting common terms and implied norms of behavior would be helpful. Though the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook [5] is used as the primary design reference for the class, in previous years there was no course text identified for the capstone sequence. In 2016-2017, one was added: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People [6]. The Air Force and NASA have used this book in their professional development programs, and Time magazine identified it in 2011 as one of the 25 most influential business books [7]. Concepts first made popular in 7 Habits are now part of the management vernacular, including the importance of "proactivity" and seeking a "win-win" solution; these have been referenced in other capstone programs [8]. In the 2016-2017 season, selected topics from The 7 Habits were introduced in two Junior Design lectures prior to team formation and reinforced by instructor throughout the course. These included proactivity and using the "circle of influence" as a specific tool to promote adaptability; building trust by making "deposits" in the "Emotional Bank account"; thinking about desired outcomes (and requirements) through each step of the capstone program, i.e., to "Begin with the End in Mind"; and the importance of self-management as a prerequisite for managing others [6]. In 2017-2018, short writing assignments were added to encourage students to reflect on the relevance of these concepts to their work as an engineering team. Emphasizing Peer Feedback and Individual Accountability Because most of the real work of capstone design occurs within the team, instructors often rely on peer feedback and logs of student activities (i.e