Industry Based Case Study Models In Technical Education

One of the greatest challenges that many students face during their course of study in engineering and technological education is relating classroom topics to real-life situations. Students in their first circuit analysis course, for example, may be engaged in solving circuits that are rarely linked to industry-based examples. Moreover, active and collaborative learning are not widely used when such problems are being solved. For this reason, many engineering and technology students are often frustrated and sometimes lose interest in finishing up their degrees. Furthermore, new graduates face additional challenges in the workplace such as working in multi-disciplinary teams, using oral and written communication skills effectively, and dealing with complex and open-ended problems. To address these growing concerns, faculties from several institutions across Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky pioneered the development and testing of industry-based case studies for the enhancement of engineering and technological education. Models for the development and applications of case studies that are interdisciplinary, multi-media enhanced, open-ended, and use active collaborative learning have been developed, tested and are being disseminated. The work was partially funded by an ATE/NSF grant ($1.8 million).