DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN ENGINEERING DESIGN TEACHING

Digital technology is widely used in engineering design teaching, enabling students to create parametric models of their solutions and data files for computer-aided manufacture (CAM). However, the digital industry is predicted to grow significantly throughout the decade and, in particular, digital twin applications. This paper compares the digital environment in engineering design teaching at two universities in terms of how their design teaching uses digital methods. The design projects and units in which digital technology is taught are identified and compared to give a broader understanding of the benefits and challenges to the teaching delivery. The different levels of technology in the digital environment are mapped against the academic years to understand the teaching strategy for large cohorts of students. At both universities, design teaching uses drawing practice to build the fundamentals of CAD modelling and give students the opportunity to manufacture their own designs by using digital technology to produce CAM data files. Both universities deal with large cohorts and have adopted different strategies for dealing with the inherit challenges this brings. The delivery of digital simulation is shown to be similar, but contrasts at the digital twin level, where significant resource is committed.