An Introduction to Civil Engineering Design and Digital Skills | CENV1028

Module overview

Successful engineers combine creativity with research, technical analysis and teamwork to create innovative solutions that improve the world around us, ethically and sustainably. Learn the principles, processes and skills that underpin engineering design. Through a series of hands-on design projects, supported by lectures, practical workshops and tutorials, you will experience the complete engineering design process—from researching a problem and generating ideas to developing, testing and evaluating engineering solutions. Along the way, you will strengthen your creativity, analytical thinking, technical communication and collaborative working skills while learning how engineers balance innovation, functionality and sustainability. By the end of the module, you will have developed the confidence to tackle open-ended engineering problems, communicate your ideas effectively and work successfully as part of a design team, providing a strong foundation for the rest of your engineering degree and your future career.

Linked modules

This module is to replace FEEG1201 for Civil Engineering only.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Understand the role of computer aided design within a civil engineering design process.
Demonstrate the ability to produce basic civil engineering drawings.
Apply computer programming knowledge to develop algorithms for the solution and visualisation of engineering design tasks.
Demonstrate the use of drawing by hand to develop and communicate ideas.
Understand how to make safe and effective use of manufacturing facilities within the School of Engineering to produce rigs or prototypes with available resources.
Demonstrate basic skills in applying computer aided design in developing and defining engineering design solutions.
Demonstrate skills in basic workshop practice.
Select relevant computer programming methods and tools and integrate them within a design process.

Cognitive Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Demonstrate verbal, visual and written communication skills to communicate design information effectively to different audiences using a range of delivery methods.
Understand the role of communication skills within an engineering design process.

Design and Innovation

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Understand the influence of human, social, cultural, and environmental factors in developing sustainable design solutions.
Demonstrate the ability to apply all stages of design process methodology to develop design solutions.
Demonstrate the ability to apply creativity, design thinking and design principles to develop innovative civil engineering design solutions.
Demonstrate the ability to apply numerical analysis, calculation, estimation, and experimentation to evaluate designs.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Understand the roles, responsibilities and characteristics required to be an effective team member of a high performing team.

Syllabus

A summary of syllabus content for this module is: Design process -Design process methodology. -Ideation techniques and concept development. -Design review and critical thinking. -Evaluation and verification through numerical analysis, calculation and experiment. -Historical and contemporary case studies in design thinking and engineering design. Human and environmental design parameters -Human factors - needs, wants, interaction and comfort. -Sustainable design – economic, social and environmental consequences. -Ethical design thinking and responsible design values. -Security risks and mitigation measures. -Designing for equality, diversity and inclusion. Communication -Verbal, visual, and written communication. -Audience and delivery contexts. -Hand drawing, sketch modelling and generative AI as part of design communication and development. -Effective graphical communication of data. -Basic engineering drawing skills. Computer Aided Design -Basic CAD modelling processes for building, analysis and visualisation. -Parametric modelling. Computer Programming -Basic Python programming functionalities, i.e.: functions and control flow; lists, loops, strings, dictionaries and arrays. -Code structure and style, i.e. file input/output; modules and classes; PEP8 compliance. -Applications using NumPy, SciPy and MatPlotLib, i.e. numerical operations; graph plotting. Teamworking -Strategies for effective teamworking. -Practical experience in leadership and followership roles and peer-to-peer learning. Manufacturing -Introduction to the School of Engineering manufacturing facilities and safety considerations. -Skills in basic workshop practice, including sheet metalwork, metrology, laser cutting, 3D printing, turning and milling, electronic soldering. -Prototyping of models for demonstration and analysis.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

This module focuses on a series of practical design activities set throughout the academic year, supported by lectures, workshops, self-paced activities and design tutorials to introduce supporting skills and theory. These activities involve a mix of individual, and group-based tasks. You learn by doing with a particular focus on identifying your own educational needs to direct your own learning. Personal reflection, self-paced and peer-to-peer learning play an important role in this.

Study time
Type	Hours
Completion of assessment task	80
Lecture	22
Supervised time in studio/workshop	40
Practical classes and workshops	44
Independent Study	114
Total study time	300

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Sudjic, Deyan (2009). The Language of Things. London: Penguin Books.

Parsons, Glenn (2016). The Philosophy of Design. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Boradkar, Prasad (2010). Designing Things: A Critical Introduction to the Culture of Objects. Oxford: Berg.

Mau, Bruce (2020). Mau MC24: Bruce Mau’s 24 Principles for Designing Massive Change in Your Life and Work. London: Phaidon.

Norman, Donald A. (2004). Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books.

Phelps, Neil, Colin Simmons and British Standards Institution (2007). Engineering Drawing Practice: A Guide for Further and Higher Education to BS 8888:2006, Technical Product Specification (TPS). London: British Standards Institution.

Penty, Jane (2020). Product Design and Sustainability: Strategies, Tools and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge.

Garner, Steven W., and Chris Evans, eds. (2012). Design and Designing: A Critical Introduction. New York: Berg.

Technische Hogeschool Delft. Faculteit Industrieel Ontwerpen (2020). Delft Design Guide: Perspectives, Models, Approaches, Methods. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers.

Simmons, C. H., D. E. Maguire, and Neil Phelps (2020). Manual of Engineering Drawing: British and International Standards. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Baumeister, Dayna, Rose Tocke, Jamie Dwyer, Sherry Ritter, and Janine M. Benyus (2014). Biomimicry: Resource Handbook: A Seed Bank of Best Practices.. Missoula, Mont: Biomimicry 3.8.

Nelson, Harold G., and Erik Stolterman (2012). The Design Way: Intentional Change in an Unpredictable World. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Hunt, John (2019). A Beginners Guide to Python 3 Programming. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Tosi, Francesca (2020). Design for Ergonomics. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Kiusalaas, Jaan (2013). Numerical Methods in Engineering with Python. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Online tasks	20%
Coursework portfolio	80%