Abstract:

This paper presents a novel methodology for teaching Economics concepts within Industrial Engineering Degrees (Mechanical, Electrical, and Industrial Electronics and Automation) in the framework of the European Higher Education. As these teaching contents are not considered by the students as the most important ones for their profession, the number of available hours is limited, and resources are also scarce. The proposed methodology is based on the accomplishment of different sequential staggered practical works which are summarized as: (i) Hand-Made Step. This step presents the resolution of different problems/questions related to the particular contents under study that the students have to fill-in-the-blank. The technical resources that the student may use is a simple calculator. This step is characterized by only requiring specific tutoring. The time required for the teacher to check this practical work is about 3-5 minutes per student; (ii) Computer-Tools Step. This step is characterized by the use of computer tools and simulations to solve the previous problems/questions. The technical resources that the student may use is specialized software related to the particular contents under study. The software used can be of proprietary or open source nature. The use of software tools allows the students to compare and validate the results obtained with those obtained in the previous step. In this step, large groups of students can be addressed with minimal teaching resources (normally, only one teacher is necessary). The time required for the teacher to check this practical work is about 2 hours per group of 30 students and; (iii) Case-study step. In this step, the students (a small number of students – between 10 and 20 – per session can be attended by a teacher) apply the concepts obtained in the aforementioned steps, and develop, in groups of two students and with the same starting data and the same case study to be simulated, a new simulation project with the aim to perform a case study based on a fault-detection and alarm monitoring system. The development of the fault-detection and alarm monitoring system is completely novel in teaching economic concepts in Industrial Engineering Degrees and the tasks to be performed are the following: (a) The teacher provides to each group of both students a set of proposed failures to be included in their case study (these failures can be adapted to the kind of work assigned to each group of two students); (b) one of the students is responsible of the inclusion of these failures in the case study; (c) the other student is responsible of the comparison of both case studies, one with the failures and one without failures; and, (d) failures in the model must be detected in the software tools in which they were developed. The time required for the teacher to check this practical work corresponds to the time of the laboratory session (around 2 hours).
The proposed method ensures that each student who attends the laboratory sessions knows what to do, avoiding unnecessary delays at the beginning of each practical session. In addition, the students apply the theoretical concepts to a case study, compare them with the simulation results obtained and generate a novel fault-detection and alarm monitoring system. Finally, an additional aspect to consider with this method is the minimization of the resources necessary for the teacher in cases where the number of students is greater than recommended.

Keywords:

Innovation, Technology, Economics Concepts, Staggered Practical Works.