Developing and assessing teamwork skills in a multi-disciplinary course

The Learning Factory is a new practice-based curriculum and physical facilities for product realization developed by the Manufacturing Engineering Education Partnership. The major goal of this curriculum is to provide an improved educational experience that emphasizes the interdependency of manufacturing and design in a business environment. The educational objectives of this curriculum, i.e., the desired skills which we want our students to develop, were determined in conjunction with an Industry Advisory Board and represent their view of the skills and knowledge which are required of the practicing engineering professional. Among the skills developed in the students are design/synthesis, communication and teamwork. These skills have also been identified by the new ABET Criteria 2000 as of utmost importance (Criteria 3). The joint partnership Technology Based Entrepreneurship, is the course designed to nurture and develop teamwork and interpersonal proficiency. At UPR-Mayaguez, this multidisciplinary course is taken by engineering, science and business students, and students are required to work in teams from day 1. The methodology to develop team skills in students as well as assessing student performance is presented.