The project is a collaboration involving Northern Illinois University, Texas A & M University, and North Carolina State University. THe goal is to develop course materials in modern manufacturing technologies and establish methodologies for collaborative teaching and learning of these materials. The course materials reflect advanced manufacturing processes recently adopted by industry and state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies and have the potential for significant near-term impact on industry. The course is taught simultaneously at all three universities and the students are collaborating across university boundaries and so the project includes significant efforts in the design and development of collaborative teaching and learning mechanisms. The evaluation, being conducted by an experienced evaluator, is examining the effectiveness of the instructional material and strategies and the effect on student learning. The project team is disseminating through website postings, conference presentations, and journal publications. Broader impacts include the dissemination of the instructional materials and results.
The objectives of this project were to: 1) develop course materials and labs on the selected advanced manufacturing topics that reflect advanced manufacturing processes recently adopted by industry and state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies and have the potential for significant near-term impact on industry, 2) develop the mechanisms for collaborative teaching and learning of the developed course across the three participating universities, and 3) access the outcomes of students’ learning through collaborations. A total of 9 modules with laboratory experiments were developed collaboratively by the three PIs from Northern Illinois University, Texas A&M University, and North Carolina State University. The major findings in this project were below. A paired samples t-test were conducted to assess pre-survey to post-survey gains in each of the ten domains that may be attributed to participation in the Modern Manufacturing class. They rated their knowledge on a Likert scale from 1-5, 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree. Students were surveyed for knowing their perceived knowledge of manufacturing. The pre-survey and post-survey data showed a perceived gain from 3.67 to 4.22 in knowledge of manufacturing. Significant gains were found for only four of the ten domains: Advanced metal forming processes, Advanced machining processes, Joining and assembly, and E-based product development and manufacturing services. This shows that participation in this course increased students’ perceived knowledge of manufacturing and awareness of research and development efforts in the manufacturing sector. In addition, pre-survey and post-survey were conducted to assess the students’ ability to succeed in the global market economy as evidenced by an increase in perceived preparedness and confidence to communicate with people with different backgrounds. They rated their preparedness and confidence on a Likert scale from 1-5, 1=no, 2=probably no, 3 =neutral, 4=probably yes, and 5=yes. The pre-survey and post-survey data showed a perceived gain from 4.05 to 4.42 in confidence and preparedness in communication skills. Significant gains were found between pre-survey and post-survey scores suggesting that the project increased participants’ confidence and preparedness. Before the students took this course, they had realized that they needed to work closely with their teammates at other universities through modern communication tools and technologies such as online lectures or labs, blackboards, and YouTube etc. Based on the analysis of the students’ survey data, it was found that the students communicated most often with students in their assigned teams, classmates, professor and lab assistant at their own university. However, they highly valued the three collaborative team projects that were conducted across the three participating universities. From these three team projects, they learned how to effectively communicate and collaborate with those who were not in the same university for completing the tasks. This granted the students the skills to work with their counterparts at different locations with diverse backgrounds, so they can be ready for future challenges in the globalized environments.
