Spring 2027

Design Practicum

Design Practicum introduces engineering design through inventing, fabricating, and testing a device for a real-world client, covering topics like specification writing, shop safety, and technical communication.

offering recorded3 credits

Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Tracy Puccinelli3.7/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Tracy Puccinelli

Post-lecture assignments were described as easy. The lab component involved a lot of work, and some students found project expectations unclear because examples did not align with the rubric.

What you’ll be able to do

Learn the fundamentals of the engineering design process and then apply them in a laboratory setting by working on a novel, client-based, hands-on engineering challenge.
Develop individual learning and cooperative teamwork skills through conduct of independent research and collaborative problem solving in a team setting.
Promote diversity and inclusiveness through exercises designed to create multicultural awareness of, and respect for, individual differences in experience, learning style, and academic interests.
Effect professional development through team-building activities, practice in personal and professional communication, leadership, project management, and engineering ethics.
Utilize academic research, creativity, innovation, fabrication, testing, and design iteration to develop effective decision-making and problem-solving skills.
Practice effective technical communication skills through maintaining a design notebook, giving oral presentations, and writing a technical report.
Participate in COE shop training to obtain the basic skills required for prototype fabrication and as a prerequisite for more advanced training in subsequent design courses.
Develop professional teaching and leadership skills in junior and senior engineering student assistants through peer-mentoring and training activities during the course.
Define engineering and learn the fundamentals of the engineering design process
Major exploration and self reflection
Learn pertinent information to maximize success as an engineering student

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗

average GPA
letter grades

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Professors

Spring 2027

Tracy Puccinelli

Adjusted rating

RMP difficulty

captured reviews

About this rating

Raw average: 3.84/5 from 19 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 3.8/5 raw quality · 1.8/5 difficulty · 17 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Tracy Puccinelli

Tracy Puccinelli’s lectures were frequently described as boring or unentertaining, with some students finding them a waste of time. The course involved group project labs with a real client, though one student noted the class felt disorganized with unclear final project rubric expectations. Attendance requirements were contradictory in student reports, with one stating it was not mandatory while another claimed it was taken via TopHat.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.94 GPA, 97.9% A/AB (n=190 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.97 GPA, 99.5% A/AB (n=199 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.99 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=192 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Kathryn Kalscheur

Kathryn Kalscheur taught INTEREGR 170 as a group project-based course. Students found her feedback constructive and her support for project work helpful, noting she clearly outlined requirements and advised on written components. However, one student found her nitpicky and said expectations were unclear, causing frustration when groups had to rework ideas she had previously approved.

AMIT NIMUNKAR is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KATHRYN KALSCHEUR is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MITCHELL TYLER is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TRACY PUCCINELLI is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity
LEC 001	Classroom Instruction	0 / 197
LAB 302	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LAB 303	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LAB 305	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LAB 306	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LAB 308	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LAB 307	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LAB 304	Classroom Instruction	0 / 25
LAB 309	Classroom Instruction	0 / 22

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Tracy Puccinelli

The course centered on group project labs with actual clients, while lectures sometimes provided useful context. Students had mixed reactions to the instruction, with some finding it unengaging but others valuing the practical work.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.94 GPA, 97.9% A/AB (n=190 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.97 GPA, 99.5% A/AB (n=199 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.99 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=192 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Tracy Puccinelli

Post-lecture assignments were described as easy. The lab component involved a lot of work, and some students found project expectations unclear because examples did not align with the rubric.

Past student reviews · Tracy Puccinelli

Students found Dr. Puccinelli friendly and caring, while others described her lectures as boring and unentertaining. Some students nearly fell asleep during class, while others appreciated the professor's patience and desire for student success.

Topics

Engineering design process and client-based challenges
Professional skills, ethics, and career opportunities

Skills

Fundamentals of the engineering design process
Specification writing, analysis techniques, scheduling, and cost estimating
Basic skills for prototype fabrication
Technical communication including design notebooks, oral presentations, and reports

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.05 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

INTEREGR 170 · Spring 2027

Design Practicum

Recorded 2026-10-14

Raw records

[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:496:024497",
    "course_id": "INTEREGR 170",
    "course_uid": "course_ccd8530122b794ce90ec0b5d",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024497",
    "source_subject_id": "496",
    "title": "Design Practicum",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]

Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades

Model outputs & technical records

Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B

LLM outputs across runs

Download part 1

Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1 Download part 2

Model & dataset provenance

{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "669b557392870476ac51fe2c0dc6fe095c69281c9822a7eb52506b84f180299d",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}

Design Practicum

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Tracy Puccinelli

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to UW–Madison

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

Where this course fits relative to