The CDIO-Framework is developed in order to enable engineering students to engineer (Crawley et al 2014). The development chain that includes the four steps conceive, design, implement and operate is relatively straightforward when applied on courses and projects that have a high degree of practical, hands-on engineering elements, such as e.g. developing a software or a physical product. However, in many engineering programmes a large part of the courses concen managerial aspects such as project management, leadership, marketing, innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in later years of a programme. We are well aware of the fact that the CDIO-framework is developed to work on program-level, however, applied on management courses, commonly only the Conceive and Design can be obtained. Furthermore, these courses are not always structured in such a way that they immediately builds on each other. This dilemma has caused us to adapt CDIO to circumstances of the courses that we give and to reflect upon how more of the CDIO spirit can be transferred to our own modules and activities. The aim of this paper is therefore to develop a micro-level framework for implementation of the CDIO spirit in management courses at engineering programmes.
In the paper we will describe how we have customized the original CDIO-framework to fit the use on micro-level, e.g. during a two-hour session with the students. We will show how we work with practical exercises that include problem solving, simulation of managerial dilemmas, and experiential learning, e.g. role playing. Our preliminary conclusions is that the CDIO approach can successfully be adapted to the micro-level, in our case during management courses in engineering programmes. It is also applicable as a way to work with case-study analysis.
References Crawley, E.F., Malmqvist, J., Östlund, S., Brodeur, D. R. and Edström, K. “Rethinking engineering education - The CDIO approach” (NewYork: Springer, 2014)
Proceedings of the 12th International CDIO Conference, Turku, Finland, June 12-16 2016
Conceive
Design
Implement
Operate
