Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Determining the proper pedagogy for our first course has been a key challenge for the Department of Systems Engineering at the United States Military Academy.When our department was formed in 1989 we did not design a first course that provided the foundation for the curriculum.In a major curriculum redesign in 2000, we designed a gateway course for all department majors, titled "Introduction to Engineering Design and Systems Management."As we are a problem solving systems engineering program, the course was designed around a systems design decision process: the Systems Engineering and Management Process.After a very good start, the course drifted because we lacked sufficient documentation defining the process and the techniques.In 2006, unable to find an appropriate text for our course, the first author used his sabbatical to lead the development of a book to be the text and a reference for our capstone research course that culminates our engineering programs.With tremendous help from our colleagues, the first draft of our text was completed and used in Fall 2006.We designed the text and the first course based on three core foundations: systems thinking, the profession of systems engineering, and a new value-focused Systems Decision Process.After several revisions, our text, Decision Making for Systems Engineering and Management, was published in the Wiley Systems Engineering Series in early 2008.The authors redesigned the introductory course, now titled "Fundamentals of Systems Design and Management," around a system thinking presentation, an individual decision problem, and a group design project.We have continued to improve the course for the past two years.
Authors: Gregory S. Parnell, Michael J. Kwinn
Institution: United States Military Academy
Language: English
Subfield: Media Technology
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4409109316