10-07-2012, 04:10 PM
Redesigning the Philippine Mechanical Engineering Program To Promote Regional Development
Redesigning the Philippine Mechanical Engineering Program To Promote Regional ........pdf (Size: 237.75 KB / Downloads: 148)
Abstract
The Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) through its Task Force in Mechanical Engineering reviews and revises the mechanical engineering program every five years. In 2005 the task force with membership representing the academe, industry, government and professional societies underwent a two-day seminar-workshop on DACUM (Developing A Curriculum) process that equipped them with its concepts and principles. They had applied them in the identification of basic engineering competency standard and specific mechanical engineering competency standard. Given CHED’s regulatory orientation in enforcing the minimum requirements for a standard mechanical engineering curriculum, the task force designed a new curriculum that reduced CHED’s requirements to the barest minimum. This gives schools offering mechanical engineering program the free-hand and flexibility to offer a twelve-unit or more of elective courses which are needed by new mechanical engineering students of a particular region in the Philippines that will promote its industrial development. For example, regions located near the coastline which are depending largely on its fishing industry would require mechanical engineering graduates with adequate knowledge and background in refrigeration and food processing and canning, while regions which are agricultural-based would need mechanical engineers with adequate knowledge and sufficient skills in mechanical design and may be in agricultural mechatronics. Likewise, highly industrialized cities would need mechanical engineers with concentration in manufacturing, mechatronics and controls engineering. Furthermore, the new mechanical engineering program includes a senior design project that would address the specific needs of the communities where the schools are located.
Introduction
Designing and revising a curriculum is not an easy task especially when the parties involved such as the academia, government, industry and professional societies with their competing interests are involved. Through the commendable initiative of the Philippines Commission on Higher Education (CHED), we have been equipped with the concept and principles of DACUM (Developing A CUrriculuM) process and have gone through the experience of applying them in the identification of basic engineering competency standard and those that apply specific to the Mechanical Engineering (ME) program.
In contrast to the outcome-based criteria for engineering education in some countries, CHED’s regulatory orientation enforces a set of minimum requirements for a standard curriculum. Through the CHED’s Technical Panel for Engineering, Technology and Architecture (TPETA) Task Force in Mechanical Engineering (of which the authors are members), a new curriculum was designed which reduced the requirements to the barest minimum. This allows schools offering ME program the free-hand to offer a twelve-unit or more of elective courses which are deemed important and relevant for the
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practice of emerging mechanical engineers of a particular region in the Philippines to contribute in its industrial growth and development. This paper presents the DACUM process and its application to the revision of the existing ME curriculum and two models of ME curriculum that made use of the twelve-unit elective courses to introduce a major or concentration.
The DACUM Process
DACUM was derived from the phrase “Developing A Curriculum” and DACUM approach was created in July 1968 in British Columbia, Canada. It is a competency – based approach to curriculum development and places the emphasis on the learners gaining ability to meet specific objectives formulated according to a set of standards.
According to Mancebo1, DACUM is based on three assumptions as follows:
1. Expert workers can define and describe their job more accurately than anyone else.
2. Any job can be effectively described in terms of the tasks that successful workers in that occupation perform.
3. In order to be performed correctly, all tasks demand certain knowledge and attitudes from workers.
The DACUM process consists of four components namely: (1) the selection of workshop participants, (2) the DACUM workshop, (3) data analysis and (4) the development of the course. This process is illustrated in Appendix A.
The participants in the workshop should be experts in their respective areas of specialization, articulate and forward thinking. In the Philippines, revision of the mechanical engineering curriculum is done by a Technical Panel composed of people from the academe, industry, professional organization and the board of mechanical engineering. This group meet and discuss the contents of the present mechanical engineering curriculum and innovate the curriculum incorporating the feedbacks coming from the industry, the requirements of the board of mechanical engineering and the requirements set the Commission on Higher Education.
The DACUM workshop brings together all these experts and provides a forum for consultation and negotiation of training goals. The workshop includes the general introduction and orientation of the process, agreement on the span of positions to be analyzed, identification of the process – based duties and responsibilities of the position and identification of the general areas of competencies through task analysis.
The data generated during the workshop are then analyzed in terms of estimating the time required to teach each of the courses identified to meet the competencies. After which the topics to be taught is developed within the area of competencies by the group and once ratified, the syllabi are then prepared.
Applying the DACUM Process to ME Curriculum Revision2
The initial step to develop the mechanical engineering curriculum using the DACUM process was to establish the profile of duties and responsibilities of an engineer in general. Several duties were identified during the workshop, which includes:
1. Conceptual Design
2. Research
3. Project Planning
4. Technology Innovation
5. Systems Development
6. Supervision of Personnel, Project and Operation
Under each of these categories, specific tasks were identified and the competencies required to perform these tasks were listed. The list of basic engineering courses was identified based on these.
The process was repeated to establish the profile of duties and competencies specific to a mechanical engineer. The tasks to be performed were identified based on the three major functions
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2006 International Mechanical Engineering Education Conference A Joint Conference by
Beijing, China, March 31-April 4, 2006 ASME and CMES
being carried out by a mechanical engineer namely research and development, technology innovation, and management. The competencies required to perform such tasks were then listed.
After all the competencies required to accomplish the tasks were identified, the courses needed to develop such competencies were listed. Reference was made with the existing minimum requirements set by the technical panel for mechanical engineering education.
Competencies for this area include understanding the principles of mathematics, determining appropriate engineering principles and techniques as applied to the concept design, developing proficiency in computational and multi- dimensional simulation skills and others. Appendices B1, B2, and B3 show the competencies identified for the areas on research and development, technology innovation, and management.
Identification of Courses for the ME Curriculum
The existing requirements set by the Task Force in Mechanical Engineering was reviewed vis-à-vis the competencies identified. Almost all of the courses presently offered were retained except for the reduction in some units. The number of units saved was allotted for new courses, specifically elective courses, which will address the needs of the locality in which the school is located.
The following specific objectives which were primarily based on ABET Criteria3 were formulated in coming up with the new ME curriculum that will provide quality education for global competitiveness: