Abstract
The authors describe their experiences creating a cornerstone engineering design course for mechanical and industrial engineering undergraduate students. Starting with a tabula rasa, we have been working to create a one-semester design experience that integrates Human Factors (HF) directly into every aspect of engineering design. In the last decade, we have identified three key issues with which we grapple: lack of integration of HF in design; lack of access to cohesive HF data; and dysfunctional student teams. Given the lack of available information upon which to draw for the design of this course, we adopted a CQI-like iterative, organic, and evolutionary approach. In this paper, we present many of the ways we have attempted to address these issues, relating to courseware development, course management, assessment and grading, and student and instructor support. We summarize by presenting our advice to others who are looking to fully embed HF or other non-design fields into a cogent design experience for their students. All our courseware and tools are available freely on the web.
Highlights
IntroductionEach year, the instructors kept notes on identified shortcomings in the course; between offerings, we would reflect on those shortcomings, identify reasonable approaches to resolving a few of them, and implement them in subsequent offerings
Ten years ago, the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Ryerson University decided that a new cornerstone undergraduate design course was needed for both Industrial and Mechanical students
The essential question driving our development of this course is: How can we create an integrated and cohesive course blending both design and Human Factors (HF) to fit in one semester? This paper will describe three major problems that we encountered over the last decade of trying to answer this question, and the solutions we have implemented to manage them
Summary
Each year, the instructors kept notes on identified shortcomings in the course; between offerings, we would reflect on those shortcomings, identify reasonable approaches to resolving a few of them, and implement them in subsequent offerings. Those resolutions that seemed to improve some aspect of the course were kept; others were abandoned or replaced. The development of the course has been largely organic, nonlinear, and evolutionary, rather than strictly managed, directed, and linear We note that this approach has allowed the instructors to remain flexible and responsive to both emerging opportunities and organizational disturbances
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