A COMPUTER-AIDED, TOTAL QUALITY APPROACH TO MANUFACTURING EDUCATION IN ENGINEERING

This paper describes an ongoing study in improving entry-level enginee ring education through the deployment of new teaching and learning too ls, We introduce a computer-aided interactive multimedia manufacturing courseware, Manufacturing has realized significant conceptual and tec hnological advances over the past decade, Manufacturing education, how ever, is not current with recent advances of industry, To improve manu facturing education we need to change not only the process of teaching and learning, but also provide new tools and technology that promote efficient learning and make it widely available and continuously impro ving, To address this manufacturing education challenge, we are presen tly designing a program based on a new computer-aided education paradi gm that embodies total quality management (TQM) and critical thinking (CT) concepts. An interactive multimedia manufacturing courseware lies at the heart of this new computer-aided education paradigm. The cours eware targets early and comprehensive understanding of interdisciplina ry applications of engineering systems with focus on manufacturing. Th e manufacturing engineering multimedia courseware (MEMC) includes: on- line lectures, audiovideo education tools, interactive computer softwa re (process and equipment design, simulation and animation software), on-line assignment and exams, information about faculty, and on-line e valuation tools to obtain users' feedback to enhance teaching. It also makes access available to related academia, industry, and government research and education information through the World Wide Web. Such a learning system is also believed to be the stepping stone to one that generates and rewards ''active, independent, self-directed learning'' for students to gather and assess data rigorously and critically, In t his paper, we briefly review the status of engineering education in th e United States and describe the appropriateness of unifying the conce pts of TQM and CT. Additionally, we provide details of how these conce pts can be used in an educational model.