Evolving an innovative Design Education Environment: The Formula DIT story

This paper describes the evolution of a Design Education Learning Environment within the School of Manufacturing & Design Engineering at the Dublin Institute of Technology. The environment has evolved to facilitate successful participation by a team of undergraduates in the Formula Student competition. The Formula Student (FS) competition is an International competition (with more than 120 international participating teams) which challenges 3rd level students to design and build a single-seat racing car, which is then put through comprehensive evaluative testing at the famous Silverstone Circuit. Unlike traditional pedagogical approaches, this learning environment requires a team of students to develop and apply their design and technical skills in a business context, whilst simultaneously employing a range of transferable skills including project management, teamwork and communication. The development and evolution of the learning environment at DIT has been an important lynchpin in facilitating the progression of the undergraduate teams from non-participants in 2009 to top 25 finishers in the Class 1 Formula Student competition by 2012.