Guidance for Educators and Researchers

Faculty members will use the SEBoK to support curriculum development and assessment, especially to ensure accuracy and completeness. The curriculum can be one that is focused on systems engineering, domain-centric systems engineering, or another engineering discipline that includes some systems engineering topics.

Faculty should also plan to review the Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE) companion guide. GRCSE provides a summary of which topics should be covered in a systems engineering curriculum, while the SEBoK describes the knowledge that constitutes a topic. (Please note that GRCSE version 0.5 is scheduled for release in December 2011.)

The Use of Topics

Each topic in the SEBOK identifies a wide range of related concepts and perspectives. A good course requires multiple perspectives on a topic, and the SEBoK provides these various perspectives. As there is a wide diversity in accepted practices across systems engineering, cataloging this diversity for use in courses is important.

The SEBoK also provides a range of references in the citation section and identifies those references that are considered primary references for a particular topic as well as additional references. Faculty can refer to the reference lists at the end of each topic discussion to identify additional content for further curriculum development; to use as reading assignments in a course; or to provide students with additional or supplemental references.

Faculty can also use the concepts, perspectives, and references to develop or refine their course objectives and the techniques for assessing them.

Implementation Examples

Good examples make for good teaching. The SEBoK includes Systems Engineering Implementation Examples, summaries of and references to full case studies and overviews of events (vignettes) related to specific areas of systems engineering. These case studies and vignettes are linked back to the appropriate areas of the SEBoK and a matrix is provided that shows the primary areas of the SEBoK addressed by each case study or vignette. Faculty can use the matrix to find case studies and vignettes, along with additional references, that are related to their areas of study. These examples can be directly used in the curriculum.

Summary

Faculty can check current curriculum against the SEBoK to identify potential gaps in many areas of the curriculum and to support putting a plan in place to address those gaps. They can also use the SEBoK as a framework for determining what subject matter should be included in a new curriculum and as a resource in designing individual courses. Faculty can leverage the case studies and vignettes provided in the SEBoK directly in the classroom. Faculty should use the SEBoK in tandem with GRCSE for development of curricula at the program level. And finally, faculty can use the SEBoK for continuing education and research.

References

Citations

Bloom, Benjamin S., Max D Engelhart, Edward J Furst, Walker H Hill, and David R Krathwohl. 1956. Taxonomy of educational objectives the classification of educational goals handbook I: cognitive domain. London: Longman Group Ltd.

Primary References

Pyster, A., Olwell, D., Squires, A., Hutchison, N., Enck, S., Eds.; T. Ferris, Lead Author. 2010. “Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering. Version 0.25.” Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, USA. Released for limited review, December, 2010.