Paper 16, ENG 107 Active Learning in Manufacturing Engineering Programs

This study presents various activities to engage students more actively in their manufacturing engineering education. Active learning is an important approach to prepare engineers, especially manufacturing engineers. Competitions, projects sponsored by industry, capstone projects, laboratory exercises or projects simulating real-life scenarios, and service or research projects are all discussed here as possible components within manufacturing engineering curricula, whereas engagement outside the classroom through the Learning Factory concept is offered as the main alternative. Even though internship and co-op programs can be effective in the growth of prospective manufacturing engineers, this study primarily focuses on the student while he or she is at school, yet engaged with the real-world. Sample activities are detailed with a specific focus on their outcomes. Cases covered here are a mix of the product of an engineering education literature review and actual examples from the first-hand experiences of the author and his students. A wide range of areas are reviewed, including the diverse fields of manufacturing processes, reverse engineering and rapid prototyping, automated identification systems, industrial device control, robotics and automation, and safety engineering. The stud