Development, Deployment, and Evaluation of Instructional Modules for Current and Future Practitioners of Model-based Systems Engineering

该项目将有助于满足国家对生产工程中受过良好教育的工程师和技术人员的需求。它将通过支持基于模型的系统工程中的在线模块课程的设计、部署和评估来实现这一点。鉴于制造产品的复杂性日益增加，具有基于模型的系统工程实践专业知识的工程师对于保持美国在制造业和相关行业的竞争力至关重要。在三年的时间里，课程将针对三种学习者群体：两年制大学生、四年制大学生和在职专业人士。该项目将由普渡大学与常青藤技术社区学院和几个行业合作伙伴合作开展，以确保这些课程能够跨学生水平整合，并与学生的学位课程和行业需求保持一致。课程材料将分为模块，允许学生和专业人士通过选择对他们最重要的模块来个性化他们的学习。这些学习者也将能够证明他们自己选择的领域的能力。即将开发的教学材料将促进技术教育，并为学生提供现实生活中的虚拟体验。该项目将使学生能够远程学习课程材料，使全国成千上万的学生和专业人士都能访问这些材料。此外，作为该项目的一部分开发的教育技术可能适用于教授其他技术技能，从而扩大美国其他行业和劳动力成员的利益。这个项目的总体目标是在基于模型的系统工程中开发一套有效的、可扩展的在线教学材料。这些材料将基于真实环境中以学生为中心的教育的最新研究。有三个具体目标。首先是确定学生在基于模型的系统工程中必须掌握的关键概念。第二是发展有效地向两年制、四年制和专业水平的学生教授这些概念的教学法。第三是开发一个流程，以评估具有不同经验和人口背景的学生在线技术指导的有效性。社会学习理论认为，学生在以学习者为中心的方法中，通过与他人和课程材料的互动来学习。这种方法已被证明可以提高学生在面对面技术课程中的学习和坚持，但人们对如何将其纳入在线学习或其效果知之甚少。该项目将调查该方法在不同层次的不同学生群体（从大学一年级学生到实习工程师）在线环境中的有效性。该项目由美国国家科学基金会EHR核心研究：生产工程教育与研究（ECR: PEER）项目资助，该项目旨在改善未来和当前生产工程专业人员的教育。它还旨在研究这些项目所采用的创新教育策略的有效性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated engineers and technicians in production engineering. It will do so by supporting the design, deployment, and evaluation of online modular courses in model-based systems engineering. Given the increasing complexity of manufactured products, engineers with expertise in model-based systems engineering practices are critical to maintain U.S. competitiveness in manufacturing and related industries. Over three years, courses will be developed for three populations of learners: two-year college students, four-year college students, and working professionals. The project will be conducted by Purdue University in collaboration with Ivy Tech Community College and several industry partners to ensure that the courses are integrated across student levels and well aligned with both students' degree programs and industry's needs. Course materials will be divided into modules, allowing students and professionals to personalize their learning by taking the modules most important to them. These learners will also be able to certify competence in areas of their own choosing. The instructional materials to be developed will advance technical education and provide students with virtual experience in real-life settings. This project will enable students to engage in the course materials remotely, making them accessible to thousands of students and professionals across the country. Moreover, educational techniques developed as part of this project might be adapted for teaching other technical skills, expanding the benefits to other U.S. industries and workforce members.The overall goal of this project is to develop a set of effective, scalable online instructional materials in model-based systems engineering. The materials will be based on current research on student-centered education in authentic settings. There are three specific aims. The first is to identify the key concepts students must master in model-based systems engineering. The second is to develop pedagogies for teaching the concepts effectively to students at two-year, four-year, and professional levels. The third is to develop a process for assessing the effectiveness of online technical instruction for students with different experiential and demographic backgrounds. Social learning theory suggests that students learn through engaging with each other and the course material in a learner-centered approach. This approach has been demonstrated to improve student learning and persistence in face-to-face technical courses, but little is known about how it can be incorporated into online learning or what effect it has. The project will investigate the effectiveness of the approach in an online setting for diverse groups of students at different levels, from first year college students to practicing engineers. This project is funded by NSF's EHR Core Research: Production Engineering Education and Research (ECR: PEER) program, which seeks to improve the education of future and current professionals in production engineering. It also aims to study the effectiveness of the innovative educational strategies adopted by these projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.