Didactic Recommendations for Education in Systems Engineering

Didactic Recommendations for Education in Systems Engineering by Gerrit Muller Buskerud University College e-mail: [email protected] www.gaudisite.nl

Abstract Teaching systems engineering differs from teaching a mono-disciplinary course, because the focus is much more on skills and less on transferable facts. The teacher must trigger a learning process in the students that stimulates the student to become active with the subject in a perceptive, reflective, and explorative way. This paper provides a number of recommendations for interaction, illustration, soft skill development, the use of media and student feedback.

platform approaches reduce lead-time, cost, ...

Distribution This article or presentation is written as part of the Gaudí project. The Gaudí project philosophy is to improve by obtaining frequent feedback. Frequent feedback is pursued by an open creation process. This document is published as intermediate or nearly mature version to get feedback. Further distribution is allowed as long as the document remains complete and unchanged.

October 20, 2017 status: concept version: 0

platform developments in practice increase lead-time, cost, ...

student

teacher counter-intuitive examples

"What do patient or insurance company need or expect?" sudden changes of viewpoint

Introduction INCOSE 2004 Academic Forum Systems Engineering Education: graduate and postgraduate, but often an extension of regular engineering education.

didactic recommendations

Experience in SE education "effective transfer of know-how requires an active attitude from the audience" Experiences of Teaching Systems Architecting, Gerrit Muller at INCOSE 2004

Didactic Recommendations for Education in Systems Engineering 2 Gerrit Muller

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October 20, 2017 DRSEintroduction

Example Postgraduate Programs Systems Engineering

Stevens Institute Systems Engineering and Engineering Management http://www.soe.stevens.edu/seem/ MIT System Design and Management http://lfmsdm.mit.edu/sdm/index.html University of South Australia http://www.unisa.edu.au/seec/


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October 20, 2017

BA Graduate SE Programs in USA BS program at:

credit hours

University of Arizona

128

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

130

University of Pennsylvania

120

University of Virginia

128

U.S. Naval Academy

143

Washington University

120

less than 5% of complete curriculum!

+ Credit hours for BS programs varies between 120 – 143 + All BS programs build on basic engineering and science courses. + Programs differ in their emphasis areas from university to university although the systems engineering fundamental courses remain the same. + Some universities offer considerable amount of flexibility in their BS programs by creating emphasis areas. source: Professor Cihan H Dagli, PhD at INCOSE 2004, Toulouse Undergraduate Education in Systems Engineering in USA


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October 20, 2017 DRSEprogramsUSA

Systems Architecting Curriculum root technical designer apply theory in practice mathematics physics chemistry mechanical engineering computer science electronical engineering

ESA SW ESA silicon

business, application insight

technical generalist

process insight

become all-round ESA s ystem ESA

stakeholders

ESA mechatronics

System design methods EXARCH

Execution architecture

maturity CAFCR Multi-Objective System design Architectural Reasoning

reliability

engineering QFD and more

experience the non-technical aspects

SARCH

psycho-social interests see every human as an individual advanced SARCH

Thomas Gilb - EVO, requirements eng Bredemeyer Role of the architect marketing, process and many more

Bredemeyer SW architecture legend conventional curriculums

available

external

missing


ESA : Embedded Systems Architecting EVO : Evolutionary Project Management QFD : Quality Function Deployment version: 0

October 20, 2017 SXcurriculumSA

Active vs Passive

passive

Theory

Insight

Practical Illustration

dull

vivid

E xe rcis e

n ctio tra Abs

Interaction active

vivid Spin-off: cross-fertilization


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October 20, 2017 DRSEpassiveVsActive

80 70 60 50

% active

Finding the Balance Active-Passive

insufficient know how transfer

SARCH

40 30

insufficient digestion of know how

20 10

1999

2000

2001

2002


2003

2004

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October 20, 2017 DRSEbalance

time

2005

Interaction

+ Pose questions to the students + Keep the communication open in all directions + Keep the students alert + Maintain a consistent mindset


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October 20, 2017 DRSEinteraction

Example questions Provocative: "What is the most important process in your company?" differentiate between important or core processes and less important supporting processes.

Explorative: "What are the deliverables of an architect?" followed by f.i. "What are deliverables?"

Inviting experiences: "Who has seen a roadmap?" followed by the question

"What was the contents of this roadmap?"

or "What is the value of this roadmap for the organization?" Didactic Recommendations for Education in Systems Engineering 9 Gerrit Muller

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October 20, 2017 DRSEquestions

Keep the Communication Open

P

what is

how to ..

+ Allow or even stimulate discussion + Managing two-way communication, the parking flip + Creating an open and safe learning environment, rules: ·

Argue in a constructive way, no heat seeking missiles allowed!

·

Stupid questions don't exist


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October 20, 2017 DRSEopenCommunication

Keep the students alert platform approaches reduce lead-time, cost, ...

platform developments in practice increase lead-time, cost, ...

student

teacher counter-intuitive examples

"What do patient or insurance company need or expect?" sudden changes of viewpoint Didactic Recommendations for Education in Systems Engineering 11 Gerrit Muller

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October 20, 2017 DRSEalert

Maintain a consistent mindset

· Be customer, market, and result oriented · Use common sense · Use multiple viewpoints · Be constructively critical · Maintain your integrity and credibility as an architect · Use facts, be specific · Communicate clearly and to the point, provide overview


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October 20, 2017 DRSEmindset

Example maintain mindset by keeping alert

We cannot do this, because the amount of software is way too large

"Why do we need this amount of software?" "How much work is required with this amount of software?" "If the customer really needs this, how can we serve the customer anyhow?"

student Didactic Recommendations for Education in Systems Engineering 13 Gerrit Muller

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October 20, 2017 DRSEmindsetAlert

Soft Skill Development

+ presenting + teamwork + self-reflection + providing balanced feedback


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October 20, 2017 DRSEsoftSkills

The Use of Media

course material + slides + reader

low-tech support + flips + yellow notes Didactic Recommendations for Education in Systems Engineering 15 Gerrit Muller

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October 20, 2017 DRSEmedia

Exercises

Exercise instruction: short, asking for illustration and specifics show the operational organization where you are operating, mention the names of the people involved explicitly

Team size:

4 is optimal; 3 or 5 members is acceptable group dynamics: larger is better 2

3

4

active participation: smaller is better

Duration 40 minutes Didactic Recommendations for Education in Systems Engineering 16 Gerrit Muller

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October 20, 2017 DRSEexercises

5

6