Industry practice training through modular classroom exercises

Arthur Felse

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Conference: 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Publication Date: June 23, 2013
Start Date: June 23, 2013
End Date: June 26, 2013
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Chemical Engineering Poster Session & Unit Operations Lab Bazaar
Tagged Division: Chemical Engineering
Page Count: 20
Page Numbers: 23.743.1 - 23.743.20
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--19757
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/19757
Download Count: 416

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Arthur Felse Northwestern University

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Dr. P. Arthur Felse is a lecturer in the Master of Biotechnology Program and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University. His responsibilities include teaching, student advising, coordinating masters students' research training, and managing the biotechnology teaching laboratory. Before joining Northwestern University, Dr. Felse completed his post-doctoral training at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University where he received the EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for his work on mild and selective polymerizations using lipases. Dr. Felse served as a faculty in the 2012 Chemical Engineering Summer School.

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Abstract

Industry practice training through modular classroom exercisesTeaching industry practices in classroom is an elusive exercise. Explosion of technologicaladvances combined with reduction in hands-on learning experiences at universities have resultedin a chasm between academic instruction and industry expectations. The industry is constantlyimploring the academia to train students in engineering practice along with advanced topics – inessence the plea is to include more industry practice experiences in classrooms. Some of thisexperience is provided through co-operative education, industry fellow/scholar programs, guestlectures, capstone projects, courses co-taught with the industry, and field trips.Beside strong technical skills, engineering practice is a culture in itself, often separated from theacademia. Thus industry practice instruction should converge on effecting a cultural or habitualchange in students’ approach to engineering profession. This paper will discuss instruction on thefollowing key aspects of industry practice: (i) Regulatory compliance, (ii) safety and riskassessment, and (iii) communication. Strategies to provide hand-on training on these legacyindustry practices by way of including them in theory and laboratory courses will be discussed.Industry practice modules were developed and updated through constant input from industrypersonnel.Regulatory compliance was taught using Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) as an example. Inpracticum GLP training was provided through a dedicated module in our bioprocess engineeringlaboratory course. Students were exposed to FDA regulations related to GLP, commoncompliance practices, enforcement, and consequences of non-compliance. Safety was taughtthrough risk assessment which can be done in lecture, laboratory or design courses. Studentswere charged with investigating safety hazards involved in handling of materials and equipmentwhile accomplishing a particular task (such as a lab experiment or an exercise in design course ora calculation in unit operations). Safety information was obtained from Material Safety DataSheet (MSDS), hazard information for equipments provided by manufacturers, and otherpublicly available information. Students were then required to develop a risk assessment and arisk abatement plan for executing any given task. OSHA and university’s safety managementguidelines were used as templates. Communication skills were taught through deductive writingrequired for (and derived from) regulatory compliance and safety training modules. Hypotheseswere set up to demonstrate regulatory and safety compliance, followed by collection of evidence(i.e., information) and subsequent test of hypotheses based on collected evidence. More than onehypothesis might need to be tested to make a conclusive argument.Experiences of the instructor and students in implementing industry practice training moduleswill be discussed in this paper. Hands-on exercises that were developed for these modules will beshared. Methodologies to include these modules in various courses will be discussed. Continuousimprovement plans based on student comments and industry reviews will be presented.

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Felse, A. (2013, June), Industry practice training through modular classroom exercises Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19757

TY - CPAPER
AB - Industry practice training through modular classroom exercisesTeaching industry practices in classroom is an elusive exercise. Explosion of technologicaladvances combined with reduction in hands-on learning experiences at universities have resultedin a chasm between academic instruction and industry expectations. The industry is constantlyimploring the academia to train students in engineering practice along with advanced topics – inessence the plea is to include more industry practice experiences in classrooms. Some of thisexperience is provided through co-operative education, industry fellow/scholar programs, guestlectures, capstone projects, courses co-taught with the industry, and field trips.Beside strong technical skills, engineering practice is a culture in itself, often separated from theacademia. Thus industry practice instruction should converge on effecting a cultural or habitualchange in students’ approach to engineering profession. This paper will discuss instruction on thefollowing key aspects of industry practice: (i) Regulatory compliance, (ii) safety and riskassessment, and (iii) communication. Strategies to provide hand-on training on these legacyindustry practices by way of including them in theory and laboratory courses will be discussed.Industry practice modules were developed and updated through constant input from industrypersonnel.Regulatory compliance was taught using Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) as an example. Inpracticum GLP training was provided through a dedicated module in our bioprocess engineeringlaboratory course. Students were exposed to FDA regulations related to GLP, commoncompliance practices, enforcement, and consequences of non-compliance. Safety was taughtthrough risk assessment which can be done in lecture, laboratory or design courses. Studentswere charged with investigating safety hazards involved in handling of materials and equipmentwhile accomplishing a particular task (such as a lab experiment or an exercise in design course ora calculation in unit operations). Safety information was obtained from Material Safety DataSheet (MSDS), hazard information for equipments provided by manufacturers, and otherpublicly available information. Students were then required to develop a risk assessment and arisk abatement plan for executing any given task. OSHA and university’s safety managementguidelines were used as templates. Communication skills were taught through deductive writingrequired for (and derived from) regulatory compliance and safety training modules. Hypotheseswere set up to demonstrate regulatory and safety compliance, followed by collection of evidence(i.e., information) and subsequent test of hypotheses based on collected evidence. More than onehypothesis might need to be tested to make a conclusive argument.Experiences of the instructor and students in implementing industry practice training moduleswill be discussed in this paper. Hands-on exercises that were developed for these modules will beshared. Methodologies to include these modules in various courses will be discussed. Continuousimprovement plans based on student comments and industry reviews will be presented.
AU - Arthur Felse
CY - Atlanta, Georgia
DA - 2013/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Industry practice training through modular classroom exercises
UR - https://peer.asee.org/19757
DO - 10.18260/1-2--19757
ER -