About this course
In this introductory course, you’ll learn some engineering principles that can be applied to structural systems everywhere: in buildings, in bridges, in nature, in furniture, and in any solid object that resists a load. The information below will guide you through the course.
Course Staff
You’ll see these folks in the course posting in discussion, answering messages, and sending updates!
- Vicki May (vvmay), Professor and Instructor
- Meegan Daigler (MeeganDaigler), Teaching Assistant
- Katherine Franklin (KatherineFranklin ), Teaching Assistant
- Christian Kwisanga (ChrisNKwis), Teaching Assistant
- Jenny Seong (jennyseong77), Teaching Assistant
- Ariana Sopher (arisopher), Teaching Assistant
- Josee Owayezu (uwayezu001), Teaching Assistant
- Laura Vang (LauraVang), Teaching Assistant
- Owl (OwlENGSx), Local Community Member
- Adrienne Gauthier (ajgauthier), Instructional/Course Designer
Course team
These folks helped develop and create this course! A big round of applause for the #ENGSx team!
| Vicki May professor and course designer |
Adrienne Gauthier instructional designer, course designer |
Jay Beaudoin lead course video producer, videographer architect/conductor |
Jared Benedict technical advisor and creative force behind activity kits |
| Sawyer Broadley course video producer |
Michael Goudzwaard experienced edX course developer and helper-outer |
Janifer Holt librarian |
Petra Taylor research designer and all around helper-outer |
| Katherine Roy illustrator and all-things-Owl |
David Souther |
Meegan Daigler Teaching Assistant, building/activity helper, content reviewer |
Katherine Franklin Teaching Assistant, building/activity helper, content reviewer |
| Christian Kwisanga Teaching Assistant, content reviewer |
Jenny Seong Teaching Assistant, building/activity helper, content reviewer |
Ariana Sopher Teaching Assistant, building/activity helper, content reviewer |
Josee Uwayezu Teaching Assistant, content reviewer |
| Laura Vang Teaching Assistant, building/activity helper, social media wrangler |
Textbook and Materials
All the readings are contained within the course; there is no textbook that you need to purchase. Course content includes video lessons (transcripts), examples, hands-on activities, simulations, and various PDF/HTML handouts.
There are items that you will need to gather or purchase in order to do the hands-on activities. Please see our handout: Recommended Supplies for the Activities
Course Goals
You'll learn:
- how and why structures (including structures in the natural and biological world) were designed and constructed the way they were.
- to conceptually design and build prototypes of structures.
- that engineering goes beyond math and science and involves much creativity and innovation.
- to identify and compare structural elements, forms, and systems.
- to describe the loads expected on a structure and the resulting flow of forces through the structure.
Through this course, students will:
- apply the engineering design process to build innovative structural systems such as cardboard chairs, models of cable-stayed bridges, and tensegrity sculptures.
- learn about funicular forms and how ropes and cables resist tension.
- discuss how columns, arches, and anti-funicular forms resist compression.
- discover how trusses, beams and walls resist loads.
- sketch the flow of forces through a structure.
- compare and contrast different structural forms and systems to answer a range of questions such as:
- Why might an engineer choose a beam over a truss?
- How do the dimensions of a structure affect its response?
- How do engineers choose forms and systems to create structures that are both elegant and functional?
Educational Methods
This course includes hands-on activities, online simulations, short video lectures, interviews with experts, discussions, multiple-choice and open-ended self-assessments and one graded “quiz” per week. Your final grade will be based on the self-assessment questions, contributions to the discussions and weekly quiz scores.
edX Mobile Apps
If you prefer learning on a smartphone, ENGSx is mobile friendly for videos only. You can download the edX app for free for your iPhone (from the App Store) or Android smartphone (from the Play Store). To fully participate in discussions, simulations, and to take quizzes, you will need to access the course through a desktop/laptop web browser.
How to Earn a Certificate
In each concept, we have provided a Concept Guide to help you decide your path through the content and activities. You will find the Concept Guide in the left side navigation for each concept. The Foundational Track is the minimal set of things you should be doing in order to be successful. The Certificate Track will show you what is needed to be successful in preparing for and receiving an Honor or Verified Certificate.
To receive a certificate in this course, you must have a final score of 60% or greater by June 19th when the course closes.
You will be graded on:
(10%) Knowledge Checks (KC in Progress)
Complete the "Knowledge Check Questions" after foundational lesson videos, the number of questions vary after each video and you get two attempts per question to get them correct. Look at at each Concept Guide to keep track of foundational videos with KC questions!
(70%) Check Your Understanding (CYU in Progress)
Six “Check Your Understanding” graded quizzes at the end of each concept, 1 attempt per question!
(10%) Share Your World (SYW in Progress)
Participate in 4 of the 6 Share Your World discussions. Self-report your participation in discussions in each Share Your World section. We will drop the 2 lowest scores for the REPORT PARTICIPATION question in the Share Your World sections.
(10%) Building Activities and Share (BAS in Progress)
Participate in 4 of the 7 hands-on activities listed below and share your designs in the discussion. Self-report your participation in each building activity section. We will drop the 3 lowest scores for the REPORT PARTICIPATION question in each activity.
Eligible hands-on activities:
- Design Challenge: Cardboard Chair (Concept 1)
- Build: Cable-stayed Bridge (Concept 2)
- Build: Anti-funicular Forms (Concept 3)
- Build: Tensegrity Sculpture (Concept 4)
- Build: Trusses (Concept 4)
- Build: Cardboard Shelf (Concept 5)
- Build: Cardboard Table (Concept 6)
Course Schedule
To receive a grade in the course, all required work must be completed by June 19th with the final grade totalling at least 60%. The grade is calculated using the Certificate criteria and grading scheme described in the How to Earn a Certificate section. After June 19th the course will be accessible to students to continue watching videos, doing activities, etc. but a grade or completion status will not be granted. The course team will not be present in the course after June 19th.
| Concept | Topic | Recommended Start Date | Date Open/Available | Recommended Completion Date |
| Start Here | Learn about the course structure and how to navigate edX. | May 5 | May 5 | May 7 |
| Concept 1 | Engineering, Architecture, and the Design Process | May 5 | May 5 | May 12 |
| Concept 2 | Tension | May 12 | May 5 | May 19 |
| Concept 3 | Compression | May 19 | May 12 | May 26 |
| Concept 4 | Tension & Compression | May 26 | May 19 | June 2 |
| Concept 5 | Shear and Bending | June 2 | May 27th Changed |
June 9 |
| Concept 6 | Overall Response of Structures | June 9 | June 2 | June 19 |
For more information on content of each week, see the Concept Guide in each section.
Each week usually contains:
- What do you think?
- Videos Lessons and Examples
- Share Your World
- Owl’s Problem and Solution
- Hands-on Activities
- Online Simulations
- General Discussion
Collaboration Guidelines
Working with fellow students can be a great way to learn and we encourage you to collaborate. However, you will get the most out of this course if you attempt the Knowledge Check and Problem questions yourself, before asking others for the answer. Check Your Understanding questions (concept quizzes) are an individual effort, so please work through the questions on your own and if you have questions seek help from other students after you have completed the quiz.
Getting Help
Click the button on the top menu to find ways to request help for using edX.
For course help on policies, deadlines, Certificates, etc. please use the "Course FAQ" discussion found in Discussion.
For questions related to course content, activities, simulations, etc. please look for the concept's 'General Discussion' (Concept 1 General Discussion, Concept 2 General Discussion, etc.) which you can find in the left navigation of each concept or always in Discussion.
Discussion Forum Etiquette
The discussion forum is a unique opportunity to engage with learners from all over the world. In order for us to take advantage of this wealth of knowledge and viewpoints, please consider the following when you post:
- The best posts are constructive, thoughtful and respectful.
- Participate. You will get out what you put in, so be active.
- Before posting, search the Discussion for similar ideas. Your contribution will be most valuable if you add to an existing thread by replying and/or clicking on the green plus button to upvote the post.
- If you disagree with a post, respond using evidence and reasoning obtained from this course or reputable sources.
- Use your own words. If you include a quote or reference, when possible also provide a citation.
- Slang words and abbreviations vary across cultures, so please avoid these whenever possible.
Posting and Sharing Images in edX
In each concept we will be asking you to share pictures of structures and also share images of things you are building. Some of our general rules:
- You can directly upload images, however there are file size limits and you might have to resize your images. Only upload images that you own or have permission from the owner to upload and post.
- You can also link/embed your images if you have them online and are sharing with your social networks. Remember to use our hashtag! #ENGSx
- Finding images of structures on the Internet and sharing those images is fine too, as long it is allowed to do so by the owner of the image. We would prefer you to use the embedding tools for images within Discussions if using images other than your own. Do not download/upload into edX.
- For all images you find online, you must list the source/credit information regardless of permissions/copyright.
- Please do not upload images that you do not own into the Discussions.
Check out our help page on sharing images in edX (opens in new tab).
Other Things You Should Know:
Please limit your posts to 200 words or less. This is an edX standard.
Use the discussion tools, such as Follow for updates, Upvote and Flag for misuse on the Discussion Home to find and contribute to the conversations.
If you see an inappropriate post, flag it instead of adding your own commentary.
A blue star on a post means a member of the course staff has endorsed it.
We would like to thank:
DartmouthX:
Josh Kim, Director of Digital Initiatives
Susan Zaslaw, Director, IT Project Services
Barbara Knauff, Associate Director of Educational Technologies
Jing Qi, Learning Analytics
The ENVx course team for paving the way and giving us advice and resources
edX:
Kathleen Carr, Program Manager
Mark Rudnick, Program Manager
Inspiration and ideas from lurking in DelftX: AE.1110x Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering
ENGSx Helpers (those 500 activity kits!!)
Bruno Korbar, Crystal J. Williams, Ilona M. Kiss, Bryan A. Armenta, Jocelyn Shyong, Ziad T. D. Al-Shamsie, Qianwen Liu, Samwel E. Bahebe, Abdul-Rashid Alhassan, Mark J. Franklin, Zack Bennis, Richard J. Crowley, Benjamin Servoz
Permissions and Reuse of Content
The Engineering of Structures Around Us DARTX.ENGS.01.X by Dartmouth College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License unless otherwise specified where the content is shown. Illustrations are created by Katherine Roy and special permission may be needed to re-use. Simulations and code therein is created by ThirdCat, LLC.