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Abstract

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Experience with Interactive Methods in Manufacturing Courses

Abstract

For the past several years, the authors of this paper have been teaching three manufacturing courses, including IMSE 250 Introduction to Manufacturing Processes & Systems (about 120 undergraduates per semester, twice a year), IMSE 564 Product and Process Engineering (about 25 undergraduates per semester, once a year), and IMSE 802 Semiconductor Manufacturing (about 10 graduate students per semester, one every three years). In all of these courses, the instructors implement interactive teaching methods intensively in order to increase the class participation, stimulate the students’ learning interest, reinforce the important manufacturing concepts, and more importantly, help the students gain active-learning skills for their whole life. This paper will describe the different interactive teaching/learning methods the instructors implemented in these manufacturing courses and also share the experience when these approaches are applied.

Keywords

Engineering education; Manufacturing course; Interactive teaching; Active learning

1. Introduction

The authors have been teaching students manufacturing materials, during the past five years. And totally three manufacturing-related courses have been taught at Kansas State University. IMSE 250 Introduction to Manufacturing Processes & Systems is a required course for students majoring in industrial engineering, manufacturing systems engineering, and mechanical engineering. But some students are from other engineering disciplines, humanities and sciences. IMSE 250 is a large engineering class (about 120 students in fall 2005) and offered twice a year. IMSE 564 Product and Process Engineering is a required course for the students whose major is manufacturing systems engineering, and the students with other majors may take it as an elective. IMSE 564 is offered once a year to the senior undergraduates and there were 29 students in fall 2005. IMSE 802 Semiconductor Manufacturing is a graduate course offered once every three years. Normally there are about 10 graduate students. Most of them are majoring in Industrial Engineering, with some from other engineering disciplines.

The authors strive to improve their teaching skills continuously. Both authors actively participate in Kansas State University’s LEA/RN, a program helping K-State Engineering faculty members learn how to teach effectively and how to apply active-learning strategies in their teaching. The first author is a member of K-State’s WESP (Woman in Engineering and Science Programs) Learning Community and frequently attends teaching workshops and seminars. The authors applied teaching strategies and methods in their classes and continually adjusted them according to the students’ responses and comments. The authors found that interactive teaching methods are very effective for students’ learning no matter how large or small the class is. In next section, some interactive teaching methods will be described together with some feedbacks from the classes.

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Zhang, J., & Pei, Z. (2006, June), Experience With Interactive Methods In Manufacturing Courses Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--903