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5.3.2 Put Me in Coach; I'm Ready to Play!: A Discussion of an Evolving Curriculum in Systems Engineering
Author(s) -
McCarthy Daniel J.,
McFadden Willie J.,
McGinnis Michael L.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2003.tb02635.x
Subject(s) - capstone , internship , curriculum , engineering education , engineering management , mathematics education , computer science , engineering , pedagogy , medical education , psychology , medicine , algorithm
Prior to 1999, the Introduction to Systems Engineering Design course was taught late in the sequence of courses that the typical student took in the Department of Systems Engineering at the United States Military Academy. The normal progression of courses front‐loaded students with various modeling and analysis “toolkit” courses. Much later in the program students were taught the engineering design big picture. In 1999, the academic program was overhauled. The introductory engineering design course became the first course in the academic program. In addition, the program's courses were separated into “methods” courses that fill the student's toolkit and “formulation” courses that require students to synthesize various tools in formulating and solving small‐scale engineering problems. Finally, summer academic internship experiences were linked with a yearlong capstone design experience during the student's senior year. This paper discusses these changes and highlights advantages of this improved approach to teaching systems engineering.