Integration of Psychology, Economics and Information Technology in an Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

Engineers often work together with professionals from entirely different areas. Therefore, it is important for the engineers to understand enough of these other areas, where technology is used, to obtain good results. To this aim a term has been developed within the civil engineering curriculum in information technology at Linköpings universitet, where the students work and study together with students from the psychology and economics education programs. The information technology and economics students build companies together and perform a project. The psychology students act as consultants for the different companies. Subjects from six departments are integrated into the project. The students work and study together for different parts of the project, although the learning goals differ between the different programs. The cooperation in the project leads to a transfer of information and knowledge between the students. Experience also suggests that the students obta in a better motivation and an integrated view of technology and the other areas as a result of the integrated project. The learning method also promotes cooperation and understanding between different professional cultures.