Manufacturing Engineering Industrial Advisory Council (IAC) meeting minutes, 10-3-2007

Location: Stevenson Center for Higher Education, Muskegon Michigan, Room 118

Time: 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Attendees:

Members: Matt Long (Herman Miller) Carl Nelson, Fred Norris, Ed Szymanski,

Rudy Shunta

MCC: Vilene Rodgers

WMU: Deb Newson

David Meade

John Patten

Items discussed at the meeting:

1.  Review of the minutes from the December 7, 2006 meeting.,

  1. Dave mentioned that MCC as an NSF grant for 20 scholarships for engineering and science students.
  2. Dave is a mentor for the program
  3. Open house is scheduled for February

2.  The Department web site has been revamped. John provided a brief overview of the new look and feel. IAC members are encouraged to review the new site and web pages.

3.  The Assessment plan has been revised/updated per the IAC review and recommendations. The revised (new) assessment plan is now online on the mfe web site. Note: revision to the assessment plan was a major department effort in 2007.

  1. The IAC members are encouraged to review the revised assessment plan and provide appropriate feedback as needed.
  2. Members should review the reported assessment outcomes, 2006-2007, in the assessment report found on the mfe web site and provide comments and feedback.
  3. Dave and John, in cooperation with other faculty and departments, will refine the specific metrics for each course as the courses are taught, collect outcome data and incorporate data into the assessment plan. Feedback to the IAC will be provided on a periodic basis (annually).
  4. The department faculty are emphasizing student participation in professional societies and certification (CMfgT) in an effort to increase participation in the activities (surveys from the assessment activity indicated only minor activity).
  5. The CMfgT self examination was administered to beginning students in MFE 1200 during the spring 2007, and will be given again to graduating seniors in the MFE 4820 in the spring of 2008

4.  Deb will obtain and circulate resumes for two new council members (Bruce Weinberg – L3 and Bruce Gilbert – Eagle Alloy) and a discussion and vote will be held in the future.

5.  John reviewed the current status of the program’s expansion to Benton Harbor – BH (Southwest Campus – SW at Lake Michigan College – LMC) and Lansing (with Lansing Community College)

  1. The program in Benton Harbor, mostly in cooperation with Whirlpool, got off to a good start this year, 2007, with a pool of students enrolling in a number of WMU courses during the spring and fall semesters.
  2. The Lansing program will officially launch in 2008, and during 2007 numerous efforts have taken place to attract interest and students to the program.
  3. Samples (copies) of the new program guides for each site (Muskegon – MCC), Battle Creek (KCC), Benton Harbor (LMC) and Lansing (LCC) were distributed and reviewed.

6.  The group discussed a proposal, initiated as a request by LCC, to increase the allowable transfer hours from the community colleges from the current limit of 68 credit hours to 96 credit hours. John will send the proposal to the IAC members.

  1. This revision would make our MFE program more competitive with Ferris’ program (3+1) offered at LCC.
  2. The department has identified 93 credit hours of existing course work (based upon courses from the four community colleges that we work most closely with) that would form the core of the proposed 96 hours transfer credit.
  3. Most of the 3000 and 4000 level MFE courses would not be affected by the change (MFE 4200 – Tool Design, and MFE 3300 Materials I) are available at some of the community colleges, and these are considered appropriate courses at the community College level).
  4. The proposal has been reviewed with the dean, provost’s office, and the transfer program office and forwarded to the college’s curriculum committee for review and action.

7.  It is proposed by the department to initiate a program review during 2008 (this activity was awaiting completion of the revisions to the assessment plan, which were completed during the summer of 2007). John has four or five volunteers to serve on the program review committee. Members will include John, Dave, Deb and Leonard Lamberson (previously volunteered), and Fred Norris. Other IAC members are encouraged to volunteer and join this effort.

  1. It is anticipated that this effort will not result in a major overhaul of the curriculum, but rather the result from the assessment plan (including surveys) will be used to suggest modifications to the program, which could include changes to courses, additions or deletions of specific courses.
  2. The first meeting of this group will take place during the first quarter of 2008, with efforts continuing throughout the year.
  3. The group will report back to the full IAC at its next meeting (fall 2008).
  4. The program review will include an assessment of the on-line, hybrid and web-ct courses.

8.  A discussion evolved about the current course delivery using a combination of CVIT, on-line, web-ct, and hybrid courses amongst the various locations.

  1. Laboratories: currently the laboratory experiments are performed at either the partner community college or the associated M-TEC. Examples include: MFE 1200 (metrology), where the M-TECs in Battle Creek and Benton Harbor were utilized by the students at those locations, and MCC facilities were used by the Muskegon students.
  2. Some virtual, on-line, laboratory experiences are used to augment the classroom lecture and physical labs. These have included CNC, CAD/CAM, and metrology applications.
  3. An assessment of the on-line nature of some of the courses should be incorporated (specifically) into the assessment plan in the future, to compare to traditional lecture courses. Currently we only have ancillary data on the results (comparison) of on-line to traditional lecture courses.
  4. A review of testing using web ct and cvit took place. The question of security (cheating) was addressed. A combination of the use of proctors at the branch campuses (EUP sites) and timed tests are used to minimize abuse. On-line tests are made to be randomized, such that each student has a different, and unique, test (the order of the questions are randomly assigned).
  5. John and Dave mentioned that in general the students are pleased with and most now seem to prefer the on-line format (even though initially there was a learning curve to ascend).
  6. Rudy mentioned that on-line courses are very important (i.e. the added flexibility provided to the student).
  7. John distributed an article that indicated that the over whelming majority of students favor (and even prefer) on line courses (but as Carl mentioned, they are not for everyone).
  8. IAC members mentioned that their companies (Alcoa and Shape) also have on-line instruction through on line courses and webinars (see Alcoa and Shape University)

John Patten, Oct 15, 2007 mfe_iac_10_3_2007_rev2