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Technology Enabled Support Modules for Engineering Management

Abstract

A common problem with the Carnegie unit of instruction is that it tends to promote the concept that engineering management tools are isolated units of instruction. Consequently, students often fail to see the connections between these tools and the applications within the disciplines. As a mechanism for promoting just-in-time review and supplemental instructional support, the industrial engineering department embarked on a long term project to provide online self- correcting modules in the areas of finance, entrepreneurship, economic valuation, and management science tools. This paper discusses a strategy for designing web-based tutorials that can help provide an element of scaffolding necessary for a developmental approach while simultaneously addressing alternative learning styles. Tutorial examples along with preliminary assessment results are provided.

Introduction

Calls for greater accountability in higher education are more strident than ever. Although stated in a variety of formats, these calls may almost always be couched within two distinct but overlapping developmental models. The first centers on the requirement to better engage an increasingly diverse learning community and the second is to develop better thinking skills. It is in the second area that a preponderance of research evidence suggests that universities fall woefully short. On a 7 point reflective judgment scale1, students enter a university around level 3.5 and matriculate with an average score of 3.8 - well below the theoretical optimum offered by brain research and that level desired by industry.

To address these concerns, the Industrial Engineering program at SDSM&T has embarked on a long-term effort to reshape the existing curricular components by building developmentally appropriate integrative threads throughout the undergraduate curriculum. Curricular elements of the threads include technology enabled learning, service learning, business plans, and enterprise team projects. Using the Steps for Better Thinking Model2 as the developmental umbrella, all curricular elements are strategically placed within the curriculum to provide both an integrative thread between the major components as well as a developmental thread for improving complex thinking skills. The primary role of the technology enabled support modules is to provide the foundational scaffolding necessary to develop more complex reasoning while simultaneously attempting to address alternative learning styles. To develop this more fully, it is first necessary to understand the developmental model adopted by the industrial engineering faculty.

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Kellogg, S. (2007, June), Technology Enabled Support Modules For Engineering Management Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1702