Effective Teaching Of Complex Manufacturing Topics To Undergraduate Engineers Utilizing A Novel, Broadly Based, Interactive Virtual Company

The research program which is described in this paper was designed to investigate a methodology by which improvements could be made in the delivery of complex, ill-defined domains in engineering such as manufacturing systems and engineering management. In particular, to more successfully expose students to industry typical indeterminate problems and to give students experience in their solution. It was hoped, furthermore, to increase student levels of engagement and motivation with the topics presented. This research study applied an educational intervention based upon a comprehensive, simulation of a manufacturing enterprise to engineering students. The course chosen as a ‘test-bed’ for this educational intervention was a third-year, one-semester, course in manufacturing systems, part of a four-year undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, at the University of Auckland. Analysis, in the form of an interpretive, qualitative study was carried out with the methods of data collection including group and semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and researcher observation. The research program did not attempt to measure ‘learning’ by means such as test and examination based quantitative assessments. The finding was that this simulation, built on a situated learning framework and offering authentic content within a realistic context, increased levels of student engagement, motivation and willingness to accept the validity of the indeterminate problems presented to them.