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ADAPTING ENGINEERING COURSEWORK FOR INCREASED GLOBAL RELEVANCE*

Bopaya Bidanda, Larry Shuman, Kate Thomes and Ozlem Arisoy

Department of Industrial Engineering/Bevier Engineering Library University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh PA 15261

Abstract This paper emphasizes the need for enhancing engineering curricula in response to the rapidly changing landscape of the global engineering environment. In particular, rapidly changing technology, particularly information technology, corporate downsizing, outsourcing, and globalization are dramatically changing engineering and the engineering workplace. As a result, the need for undergraduate engineering students to spend part of their education in an international setting has been greatly increased. However, traditional engineering education and engineering courses typically have not been conducive to ‘study abroad’ type environments. This paper presents a case study where a basic Manufacturing Systems course taught at a campus in the United States within an engineering program has been adapted for teaching as part of the Semester At Sea program. General guidelines for adapting such engineering courses for global relevance are also presented. Finally, we show that student learning and student satisfaction did not suffer (but actually improved).

Background

The Semester At Sea Program operated by the Institute for Shipboard Education is a unique study abroad program designed to incorporate global studies into the undergraduate experience. As such, each Fall and Spring Semester, over 600 students from 200 to 240 different colleges circumnavigate the globe while taking a full semester of “voyage related” courses. During the summer, a 65 day regional voyage is offered, with students taking nine to twelve credits. All courses are provided under the jurisdiction of the University of Pittsburgh, which grants academic credit for participation in the program. The state of art MV Explorer serves as a fully functional campus with nine classrooms, a library with a significant collection tailored to the international academic focus of Semester at Sea, a computer lab with internet access, a student union, campus store, two dining rooms, swimming pool, fitness center, theatre and medical clinic. Student living areas are arranged much like campus residence hall environments. Built in

* This research was sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation, Grant number 0431355; “GOALI: Offshoring - The New Challenge for Engineering Educators.”

“Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. Copyright 2005, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Arisoy, O., & Shuman, L., & Thomes, K., & Bidanda, B. (2005, June), Adapting Engineering Coursework For Increased Global Relevance Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14803