The pedagogic and technological evolution of a Manufacturing Systems Engineering (MSE) graduate program

Graduate programs for a cross-disciplinary MS degree in manufacturing systems engineering are in their twenty-fifth year since being stimulated by an innovative request for proposals (RFP) by the IBM Corporation. The RFP called for solutions to perceived gaps in engineering education. There is a continuing need for engineering professionals to gain appreciation of business issues, the importance of interpersonal communication, teamwork, information technologies and globalization. The Lehigh program, one of the five US proposals funded, has evolved both pedagogically and technologically since welcoming the first students in January, 1984. The program has migrated from dealing with twenty to thirty full-time on-campus students sent by their industry employers to catering for similar numbers of partial-release students and in the last decade to students that participate remotely. Classes are delivered by satellite and are available on-line; students employ a psilaphone bridge to join dasialivepsila classroom discussions and to support their own presentations or those of their team colleagues. Digitized videos of class proceedings are available on customized Blackboardtrade sites. Blogs, discussion board assignments and analysis of leading-edge technical releases empower the students of this dasiaclassroom factorypsila as they undertake research and share their industry experiences.