Industry Driven Curriculum Development, The Key To Successful Courseware

Designing a curriculum of courses based upon donated equipment can be made easier if the donors help with this task. Not only are equipment manufacturers the best sources for gaining donated state of the art equipment, but they can also be an important resource when it comes time to develop the actual course material and content needed for new courses involving the use and application of their equipment and products. Northeastern University’s School of Engineering Technology has been fortunate to have received substantial laboratory equipment donations from major players in the Industrial Control Systems industry. These same players have generously contributed supplemental training materials in addition to their own time to assist in developing course curriculum for our program. This paper addresses the construction of this new curriculum and in particular the part industry has played. The results of a pilot courseprogram conducted in the Fall of 1999 are included along with comments from participating students.