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Curriculum Development and Delivery Using Industry-Based Case-Study Models

Saleh M. Sbenaty Middle Tennessee State University

Abstract

The current paper outlines an innovative approach to curriculum development, delivery, and assessment that may improve engineering and technological education and attract students to pursue these programs. This is one of the objectives of the three-year NSF-funded grant entitled “The South-East Advanced Technological Education Consortium, SEATEC.” The consortium is a collaborative effort of five different teams across Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. Each team includes multi-disciplinary faculty members and industry partners. A brief account of the grant’s activities will be described and a model case targeted for an introductory course in circuit analysis will be presented.

I. Introduction

In today’s fast changing world, companies spend large amounts of money on staff training and development. To reduce costs and training time, employers are increasingly interested in working closely with higher education institutions to transfer the classroom into a real-world learning experience. In addition, employers are interested in improving the way employees apply their acquired knowledge and skills to new settings or situations.

At the same time, one of the greatest challenges that most students face during their course of study in higher education is relating classroom topics to real-life situations. Students in the first circuit analysis course, for example, may be engaged in solving series and parallel circuits that are rarely linked to real industry-based problems. What makes matter even worst, at least in some cases, is that active collaborative learning environment is not widely used in engineering and technical programs. For these reasons, many engineering and technology students often find themselves frustrated and sometimes lose interest in pursuing such degrees. In the industrial workplace, moreover, new graduates face additional challenges such as working in multi- disciplinary teams, using oral and written communication skills effectively, and dealing with complex and open-ended problems.

To address these growing concerns, faculties from several institutions across Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky are pioneering the development and testing of industry-based case-study approach for the enhancement of engineering and technological education. Five models for the development and applications of case studies that are interdisciplinary, multi-media enhanced, open-ended, and use active collaborative learning have been developed, tested and are being disseminated. This approach brings real-world problems to the classroom and is hoped to enhance learning and retention in these programs. The work is done through a three-year NSF-

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Sbenaty, S. (2002, June), Curriculum Development And Delivery Using Industry Based Case Study Models Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10820