Contributor(s)

Cullinane, Thomas

Abstract

The goal of this project is to create an all-inclusive laboratory for the Introduction to Industrial Engineering course. For the beginning engineering student, this lab will reinforce current and past educational experiences, prepare them for their first co-operative experience, and develop their technical writing skills. The project will include five essential components: five different laboratory assignments, a student lab packet, prepared materials to complete each lab, and a professor/TA packet with grading metric. The requirements for this laboratory were developed through surveys of three separate populations that would benefit from this lab. The polled populations were Northeastern University co-op employers, Industrial Engineering Faculty, and its engineering students. The survey results in conjunction with feedback from the sponsor, defined five major laboratory topics: 1) Manufacturing Engineering, 2) Material handling, 3) Work Design, 4) Quality Control, and 5) Queuing. Once lab topics were identified, both group discussion and interaction with the course instructor determined that a common theme, carried throughout all of the labs, would best demonstrate the objectives. A Lego model car emerged as the most suitable candidate because it was easily identified, easily assembled, and could be broken down into distinct sub- assemblies. All of these features achieved the purpose of allowing students to focus on the topics rather than learning the product assembly method. Experiments were subsequently developed using the identified product and its corresponding final lab. The experiments were developed over a period of two years using the Capstone Group school and co-op experiences, data collection and with the input of Professor Freeman. After several refinements to the experiments under the guidance of Professor Freeman, they were ready for Beta testing. Beta testing was accomplished by using freshman engineering student volunteers who had no prior knowledge of the course. Sixty students were divided into groups of four and randomly assigned to one of the experiments. All five of the experiments were tested by three groups of students within a one hour time period. In addition, Professor Freeman was at the Beta testing session to review and analyze how the experiments ran from an instructional point of view. After Beta testing was completed, students answered a questionnaire requesting their feedback regarding the overall setup of the experiments, how the experiments could be improved and their perception of the use of Lego products in an educational environment. The combined feedback from the participating students and Professor Freeman was used to refine the experiments. The Beta testing results and additional contributions from Northeastern faculty and staff who provided valuable administrative, departmental and accreditation perspectives contributed to the final course development and laboratories for the Introduction to Industrial Engineering Labs.

Notes

Capstone Design Course

Keywords

all inclusive laborator, Industrial engineering courses

Publication Date

2007

Permanent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d1001147x


View Full Text

Click button above to open, or right-click to save.

Share

COinS