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Session 1239

Engineering Economy - A Follow-up Analysis of Current Teaching Practices

Jerome P. Lavelle/ Kim LaScola Needy, Heather Nachtmann Umphred Kansas State University/University of Pittsburgh

Abstract

Results of a survey conducted to gather data regarding the ways and means in which engineering economy is taught in U.S. universities is described. This represents an extension of the work previously reported by Lavelle at the 1996 ASEE Annual Conference in the following ways: (1) additional surveys are included; (2) a more rigorous statistical analysis is performed; (3) responses to open-ended questions have been tallied, coded, grouped, and analyzed; and (4) the foundation is laid for a follow-up survey to probe more deeply into the significant findings from the first survey. The intent of this research is to identify potential pedagogical implications of the findings as they relate to increasing the efficacy of teaching engineering economy.

Background

At the 1996 ASEE Annual Conference, Lavelle (1996) reported findings from a survey which was distributed to all members of the industrial engineering and engineering economy communities in the Fall of 1995 via CIEADH (Council of Industrial Engineering Academic Department Heads) and ASEE - Engineering Economy Division mailing lists. The purpose of this survey was to gather data regarding engineering economy and the ways and means in which it was taught in U.S. universities. The initial report presented by Lavelle included responses from 43 respondents. Since this reporting, two additional surveys were collected. Results reported in this paper represent on average a total of 165 sessions of engineering economy being taught in the U.S. each year, to a total of 10,411 students. Class sizes varied from 20 to 500 students on average.

This paper will re-examine the findings from the initial survey (with the inclusion of the two additional surveys), including a more rigorous statistical analysis of the data. Responses to open-ended questions will also be examined more thoroughly. Finally, the survey instrument to be used in a follow-up survey will be described.

Survey Findings

Breakdown by Discipline and Class Size

Industrial Engineering (IE) faculty are not the only ones teaching engineering economy. This subject matter is being taught by a wide variety of engineering disciplines. Of the 45 surveys, 64% of the engineering economy courses are taught by Industrial Engineering (IE)

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Umphred, H. N., & Needy, K. L., & Lavelle, J. P. (1997, June), Engineering Economy A Follow Up Analysis Of Current Teaching Practices Paper presented at 1997 Annual Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 10.18260/1-2--6538