Lessons Learned from a First Attempt to Teach Systems Engineering as a Studio Art Class

• Published in: Association for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers
• Main Authors: Davis, Kirsten, Salado, Alejandro, McDermott, Thomas A
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta American Society for Engineering Education-ASEE 15.06.2019
• Subjects: Architectural engineering; Computer architecture; Engineering; Engineering education; Format; Stakeholders; Students; Systems engineering; Teaching

Systems engineering is often described as both an art and a science, yet courses on the subject are often structured like traditional engineering science courses. Prior studies have explored the principles and practices that are common between systems engineering and major artistic endeavors and suggested that systems engineering courses could build upon this connection. In prior work, we described an approach for teaching systems architecture using methods from a studio art class, including classroom set-up, lesson structure, and course structure. This paper is the follow-up study to this proposal, in which we have implemented the proposed course format in an introductory course for graduate students in systems engineering. The studio art format was used in the second half of the semester to teach topics including problem formulation and system architecture. The purpose of our study is to compare student performance on a course assignment between the new format and the traditional format used in prior years. Our study focuses the first major assignment in the course: identifying stakeholders, developing a concept of operations, eliciting stakeholder requirements, and deriving system requirements. Specifically, students start with an open-ended, vague need. The instructor then plays the role of any stakeholder that the students want to interview to formulate the problem. The same assignment has been used two years in a row, so the only shift was in the teaching method used in the course. We developed a rubric based on good practices for problem formulation that included the following dimensions: accuracy in reflecting the actual needs of the stakeholders, level of completeness (absence of major gaps in the problem formulation), and absence of unnecessary constraints. We scored seven assignments from each year (sample selected due to available participants). Multiple researchers scored each assignment separately and then discussed the ratings together to reach a final consensus. We use both a quantitative comparison of rubric scores and qualitative comparison of assignment content to summarize the similarities and differences in assignment performance between the two years. Our results provide insights into the benefits and challenges of using a studio art format in a systems engineering course.