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Using Hands‐On Design Challenges in a Product Development Master's Degree Program
Author(s) -
Frey Daniel D.,
Smith Mark,
Bellinger Scott
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of engineering education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.896
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 2168-9830
pISSN - 1069-4730
DOI - 10.1002/j.2168-9830.2000.tb00556.x
Subject(s) - new product development , architecture , engineering management , product design , product (mathematics) , reflection (computer programming) , degree program , discipline , engineering , program design language , engineering ethics , management , computer science , software engineering , sociology , medical education , economics , medicine , art , social science , geometry , mathematics , visual arts , programming language
A design challenge has been developed as the first experience in a new Master's degree program in product development, offered by a consortium of schools: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the University of Detroit Mercy. The program admits experienced technical specialists who have been identified by their employers as future leaders of product development. The program begins with a brief, intense design challenge that exposes the students to a multi‐disciplinary problem and initiates reflection on systems architecture and organizational processes. The unique requirements of hands‐on design challenges for graduate education in product development are discussed from a constructionist viewpoint. Implementation details of the design challenge are presented and the results from the first two years are analyzed. Students in the program rate the design challenge as a very good introduction to the program and agree that the exercise provides material for discussion of system architecture and organizational processes.