Design Reviews for Capstone Courses

Design reviews are required for engineering projects in the workplace, especially where human life and well-being are at stake. However, few engineering undergraduate programs conduct professionally rigorous technical design reviews that prepare students for the demands of the engineering workplace. This article describes the use of technical design reviews in industry and government settings and explains how analogous technical design reviews can be conducted to improve the effectiveness of capstone courses. Criteria are presented for defining and adopting technical design reviews in capstone project courses. These guide the definition of suggested design review questions and scoring rubrics that design educators can use for improving student design, assessing students' design skills, and preparing students for engineering careers. At the same time, by implementing the technical design review, the capstone design course better reflects characteristics of the engineering profession, resulting in student learning and assessment of engineering technical and professional skills that are transferable to the work environment.