Integration Of Hands On Experience Into Dynamic Systems Teaching

With the advent of significant developments in technology the process of product development is undergoing remarkable changes. Companies now require engineers who understand broader multidisciplinary systems and their working. Kettering University is currently engaged in reforming its curriculum to meet some of these demands. The objective of this paper is to discuss two new core courses that were developed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the area of multidisciplinary dynamic systems in order to reach this goal. The idea is to teach these courses using a unified approach to systems, with hands-on laboratory experience and system simulation using software tools like MATLAB ® , and focusing on an inquiry-based problem-driven approach. This is a team effort and a number of faculty members from the ME Department will be involved in executing this project. Upon completion of these courses, the students should be able to demonstrate a good understanding of design, modeling, simulation, analysis, and identification of multi-disciplinary engineering systems. This paper describes how the courses are laid out in order to achieve the desired goals and how the laboratory experiments should fit into the courses to promote this multidisciplinary understanding.