Abstract:

With the current shift towards online classes due to the COVID19 pandemic, traditional teaching methods must evolve to ensure the students' engagement in an active learning process and the retention of concepts taught. One way to achieve these two goals is to use real-life problems through case studies. Industrial engineering courses are at the intersection of business and engineering. Industrial engineering also includes technology deployment, design, and the implantation of integrated systems. As a multidisciplinary field, it develops decision making, systematic thinking, and problem-solving skills. Therefore, the use of case studies that meet the requirements of industrial engineering students as effective teaching material is essential.

The proposed framework identifies the key success factors in developing, publishing and teaching case studies in industrial engineering courses according to four thematic pillars:
(i) teaching approach when using case-studies
(ii) learners’ role and characteristics
(iii) case features (language, attractiveness, relevance to the course) and finally
(iv) learning outcomes.

The current generation in secondary education is generation Z. This generation has specific markers: connected, communicating, content-centric, computerized, community-oriented. All these specific traits should be considered when teaching. Case studies can regroup all these characteristics to optimize the learning experience of this generation in class.

Case studies and the problem-solving approach allow students to form a community around a common theme, connect around a specific problem, and communicate to get the best solution. This interactive teaching approach is the most effective way when students judge they have enough knowledge and autonomy to work on the problems. Moreover, for undergraduate courses, the case studies in students’ native language, allow a deeper understanding of the subject taught, where accompanied by a concise pedagogical note, and short enough to be appealing to generation Z.

The proposed framework in this paper highlights the building blocks of teaching industrial engineering courses via the case study approach effectively.

Keywords:

Industrial engineering, Generation Z, Case studies, Interactive learning experience, key success factors.