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Integrating Professional and Technical Skills Development in Tool Design Course for Manufacturing Engineering Technology Curriculum

1. Introduction

Engineering educators are challenged to develop engineering students’ skills and knowledge on new technical areas and non-technical areas such as teamwork, communication and lifelong learning. One possible and feasible approach is to address those professional life skills via targeted content in engineering applications courses [1] . This approach was chosen in reforming the tooling design and measurement course for manufacturing engineering technology (MNET) students at the South Dakota State University (SDSU).

Subjects in the course include jigs, fixtures, molds, tools and dies in various production settings, material selection, precision machining, manufacturing inspection equipment and techniques, dimensional metrology and geometric conformance. WebCT courseware, an environment for developing web-based educational activities and materials [2], was used to supplement lecture material, lab projects, homework, and enhance communication between the instructor and students.

With the reform effort, students developed professional non-technical and technical skills simultaneously in an integrated mode. The concept for this approach was based on the notion that technical information and new knowledge acquisition can be achieved in both formal and informal modes [ 3] . Formal learning experiences occur in lectures delivered by the instructor while informal learning is obtained through the self-directed and team-based projects with appropriate instruction. Professional skills including communication skills, teamwork skills and lifelong learning skills were integrated with up-to-date technical skills development in laboratory-rich and hands-on projects.

The course exposed students to a team-based and project-oriented cooperative learning environment. Students were placed in teams of three or four for each project. Teamwork principles were introduced at the beginning of the semester. Team progress reports, final reports, oral presentations, and student written operations manuals for the lab equipment provided students opportunities to improve technical oral and written communications skills while carrying out challenging technical tasks. This paper describes projects where students practiced lifelong learning skills including locating, seeking and understanding new information with self-directed and team-based cooperative learning approaches. Promoting self-directed learning activities could lead to the successful assimilation and cultivation of lifelong learning skills. Self-directed learning activities also make students have an intrinsic belief that one is responsible for one’s own learning [ 4 ] .

The current MNET curriculum produces manufacturing technology program graduates that are not as strong in understanding the overall methodology of design as expected. This has been a shortcoming identified in our outcomes assessment data as indicated by results on the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Certified Manufacturing Technologist (CMfgT) exam

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Qian, L., & Hall, T., & Duan, S. S. (2006, June), Integrating Professional And Technical Skills Development In Tool Design Course For Manufacturing Engineering Technology Curriculum Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--166