During the Spring of 2009 a collaborative project was initiated between the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary (UofC) in Canada and the College of Engineering at Shantou University (STU) in China. This collaborative effort involved the teaming of a group of 30 students from the University of Calgary with a group of 30 students from Shantou University on a single design-build exercise. The students were given a period of five weeks to work on this design-build exercise, with student teams consisting of an equal number of UofC and STU students. Teams were selected at random, with the students spending the first four weeks of the project at their respective institutions and the final week working together at STU. The building and testing component of the exercise took place during this final week. Students were given a known design solution for a Stirling engine from a projectsharing website entitled Instructables (www.instructables.com). Providing students with a known design solution did not lead to a stagnant experience but rather served as a launching point enabling them to consider and develop more sophisticated designs. All of this was completed with large cultural differences, forcing the students to be both creative and adaptive as they learned how to communicate while solving engineering problems.
