Improving Mechanical Engineering Education Through Use of Case Studies

Business is increasingly conducted in a global environment, and mechanical engineering students are expected to be proficient in leadership skills as well as strong technical skills. Many authors state that instead of adding more material and more courses to the engineering curriculum, which would likely turn students away from engineering, engineering educators need to respond by opening up access to engineering with the larger world. We found that one of the effective ways of bringing real-world issues related to the areas of manufacturing and design, thermal engineering, acoustics, vibration, welding and nondestructive evaluation into classrooms is through the use of case study methodology. The Laboratory for Innovative Technology and Engineering Education (LITEE) at Auburn University has developed eighteen multimedia case studies over the past ten years. Faculty and students partnering with various industries develop these case studies. The case studies focus on real-world problems that actually occurred in the chosen industry. All the technical and business details related to the problem are provided in the case study. Through the use of information technologies we created multi-media case studies that bring real-world decision making from the engineering industry into the classrooms. The students analyze the problem in the class using role-playing, thereby simulating the decision-making scenario that occurred in the industry. The students also have an opportunity to compare their solutions to what happened in the industry. This paper describes the steps involved in developing a LITEE case study, administering this case study in engineering classrooms, and the results of evaluating the effectiveness of this method of instruction. This paper also discusses the details of different case studies related to the above-mentioned areas available through LITEE.Copyright © 2009 by ASME