The EWB Challenge Series is unique platform which connects community-based organisations and universities. Flexibility is key to how we work with our partners, however EWB does require students and teaching teams to follow a set of core program rules as outlined below. Guidance regarding the submission of student work to be shared back with EWB Australia and our community-based partners is also provided.
Program Rules
Participation in any of the programs within the EWB Challenge Series requires adherance to a set of rules which enable EWB Australia to ensure appropriate program management and engagement with our partners. To be eligible to engage with any of the EWB Challenge Series resources and activities, univerisities and students must comply with the program rules outlined below.
Student teams or individuals are eligible to participate in an EWB Challenge Series program providing that they:
- Are enrolled in a university course registered with the EWB Challenge.
- Respect the privacy of all participating organisations and communities. Under no circumstances are participants to contact the communities or partner organisations directly, unless given advance permission by EWB Australia. All questions and requests for data should be made through the discussion forum on the EWB Challenge website.
- Comply with the EWB Challenge Submission Recommendations below.
Universities are eligible to participate in an EWB Challenge Series program based on the following provisions. By registering to participate in one or more of the EWB Challenge Series programs universities are agreeing to these provisions:
- A registration fee is set per university, per year. This fee provides important funding to support the delivery of the EWB Challenge including presentations at universities, communication with students and lecturers, website, resources and the development of the design brief and engagement with the community-based partner organisation.
- The EWB Challenge will be incorporated into appropriate subjects offered by universities during Semester 1, Semester 2 and/or summer semesters.
- Individual universities will decide how to integrate the program into their curriculum and will ultimately be responsible for setting learning objective, delivering activities, and assessing students.
- Each university will be responsible for assessing their own teams’ submissions and selecting up to four team reports for submission to EWB for external review and Showcase eligibility.
- All submissions for review will be judged against a common set of criteria and guidelines. These criteria are available for download on the EWB Challenge website.
- The external review process will determine which one student submission (team or individual) to EWB Australia from each university will be invited to participate in the annual end-of-year Showcase event including awards. At the Showcase participating students present their project to a judging panel, and a sub-panel of judges will determine award winners based on student presentations. Only in unusual circumstances will more than one student submission from a university be invited to the Showcase.
- All student reports submitted to the EWB Challenge Series for review are given to the community partner to support their work. Universities submitting student reports to the EWB Challenge Series agree to dedicate the ownership of any new intellectual property (including designs, computer models, data sets, work materials ect) contained within the student reports to EWB Australia and our partners for use in the development of programs with their associates at no cost to EWB Australia or their associates.
Submission Recommendations
Student teams may wish to address a single project brief, or provide an integrated design solution for two or more areas outlined in their EWB Challenge brief. Alternative projects may also be considered where appropriate, however prior communication with EWB Australia via the relevant project discussion forum is recommended. The EWB Challenge design briefs created open-ended learning experiences, and thus the breadth and depth of design is left to individual universities and student teams to scope within the context of the submission recommendations provided.
Each university may nominate up to four team submissions for external review by industry. Each submission should include a design report or folio written in English explaining the proposed design. Alternative forms of submissions to supplement a report, including videos, photos, or drawings, are accepted.
It is recommended each submission should:
- Additionally contain a Project Summary (saved as Word document) downloadable from the EWB Challenge website, to assist in sharing the students’ ideas with the community partner organisation. This should be a standalone document from which the partner organisation can understand the key concepts of the project.
- Cover all relevent concepts required for a complete design proposal including:
- Response to the design considerations outlined on the EWB Challenge website.
- Identify alternative options considered during the design process and a justification for the selected technology, approach and/or process, with a particular focus on its appropriateness to the local community and culture.
- Provide details of the conceptual design, analysis and final design. Design calculations or explanation may be included, appropriate to the level of team experience.
- Identify schedules and detailed design, construction and maintenance costs associated with completion and construction of the design.
- Identify how the selected design is appropriate to the social, environmental, economic and cultural context of the community, including reference to any specific design considerations unique to the context outlined on the relevant EWB Challenge page.
- Discuss ethics, long term sustainability and maintenance of the engineering work that would be completed as a consequence of the design.
- Provide basic advice on the construction and operation of the design.
- Outline the details of any external support provided to the design team and identify any content that is not attributable to the design team with appropriate referencing
- Reflect on students’ learning / experience gained through the project
Note, further specific ‘Design Considerations’ are provided with each Design Brief to support the development of design proposals that will be most interesting and value to EWB and our community partner organisations.
Showcase and Awards
Student reports submitted to EWB Australia are reviewed and assessed by an external team of volunteers from engineering and aligned-sectors using marking guidance provided by EWB. This feedback is a valuable mechanism for EWB and determines which team from each university is invited to present their work at the annual project showcase and awards event.
Awards at the Showcase event(s) are determined by a judging panel made up of representatives from EWB Australia, the community partner organisation, and/or industry.
