[Gdeaver]

Ken,
If on week 4 or 5 a box shows up with a fancy custom widget and there was no student involvement, that is wrong. If a core group of students sat in with the design process and then watched the tech do the set up and watch that custom widget being made and then sat with the QA person and validated it, That is good, real good. However, many times this is not the case. I did allot of the work on our composites, but I had some students there mixing epoxy and helping. While we were working I beat info and the whys into their brains. At our last meeting I had a student regurgitate that info back to me during a discussion with the new students. Thats the way it should work. Bring the Tech to the students.
As to your other point, I'm on the other end. I install and repair the stuff you engineers design. Too often I am repairing or replacing parts that are poorly designed and many times it is very apparent that the designers have have little experience with the physical world. They live in the virtual world of their software. Hands on in First is a good way to help these future designers. I'm am not an engineer , I'm a reverse engineer.