SEARCHING FOR SYMBIOSIS: OPPORTUNTIES AND OBSTACLES IN FORMULA SAE TEAM/SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

While engineering student project-based learning teams are primarily focused on their main goals, they also operate within the larger administrative context of their home school. In an ideal world, team and administration goals are symbiotic and furthered by mutually supportive policy and action. However, there are many potential points of contradiction between a team’s goals and the concerns of the school’s larger administration. Student team leaders often face the daunting task of managing their workflow while balancing administrative and legal priorities that may seem counterproductive or even hostile to team goals. Given the unequal power relations at play, ignoring administrative goals is often not an option - failure to comply to administrative rules and norms can lead to consequences that can threaten the team’s very existence.

This paper highlights examples of team/administration cooperation and conflict from a particular PBL team context – Formula SAE (FSAE) automotive racing teams. Members of teams participating in the North American FSAE competitions from 2013-2015 shared specific stories of team/administration cooperation and conflict in written surveys and competition site interviews as part of a larger dissertation research project. Team experiences with administration vary from symbiotic, supportive relationships to ultimately detrimental to team success. While a positive relationship with administration doesn’t guarantee an FSAE team will be successful, such a relationship does remove significant barriers to team success. This paper suggests CDIO standards provide a framework to help school administrations advocate for the resources that can best assist FSAE and similar student-managed project-based learning engineering teams.