Development, Deployment, and Evaluation of Instructional Modules for Current and Future Practitioners of Model-based Systems Engineering

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated engineers and technicians in production engineering. It will do so by supporting the design, deployment, and evaluation of online modular courses in model-based systems engineering. Given the increasing complexity of manufactured products, engineers with expertise in model-based systems engineering practices are critical to maintain U.S. competitiveness in manufacturing and related industries. Over three years, courses will be developed for three populations of learners: two-year college students, four-year college students, and working professionals. The project will be conducted by Purdue University in collaboration with Ivy Tech Community College and several industry partners to ensure that the courses are integrated across student levels and well aligned with both students' degree programs and industry's needs. Course materials will be divided into modules, allowing students and professionals to personalize their learning by taking the modules most important to them. These learners will also be able to certify competence in areas of their own choosing. The instructional materials to be developed will advance technical education and provide students with virtual experience in real-life settings. This project will enable students to engage in the course materials remotely, making them accessible to thousands of students and professionals across the country. Moreover, educational techniques developed as part of this project might be adapted for teaching other technical skills, expanding the benefits to other U.S. industries and workforce members. The overall goal of this project is to develop a set of effective, scalable online instructional materials in model-based systems engineering. The materials will be based on current research on student-centered education in authentic settings. There are three specific aims. The first is to identify the key concepts students must master in model-based systems engineering. The second is to develop pedagogies for teaching the concepts effectively to students at two-year, four-year, and professional levels. The third is to develop a process for assessing the effectiveness of online technical instruction for students with different experiential and demographic backgrounds. Social learning theory suggests that students learn through engaging with each other and the course material in a learner-centered approach. This approach has been demonstrated to improve student learning and persistence in face-to-face technical courses, but little is known about how it can be incorporated into online learning or what effect it has. The project will investigate the effectiveness of the approach in an online setting for diverse groups of students at different levels, from first year college students to practicing engineers. This project is funded by NSF's EHR Core Research: Production Engineering Education and Research (ECR: PEER) program, which seeks to improve the education of future and current professionals in production engineering. It also aims to study the effectiveness of the innovative educational strategies adopted by these projects. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.