Case teaching for engineering students

Abstract

Industrial enterprise management should be accepted as a coherent part of an engineering education programme. While good theoretical knowledge plays a crucial role, there must also be an emphasis on its application. In this paper, the authors seek to elaborate on the case teaching technique applicable for education of engineering students. The outcome of this teaching method should be the developed practical skills in decision-making based on theoretical knowledge. The authors embrace the following facets of the case teaching technique applicable to engineering students. Firstly, the authors strive to present arguments for the business situation that could be considered as proper cases for teaching purposes. Secondly, the authors outline the case method that enable increases in efficiency when teaching students and professional business executives to develop or improve skills for generating multi-variant decisions, predicting plausible outcomes and, hence, to enhance^ the percentage of successful business decisions to issues. The authors' theoretically-grounded and practically-tested technique facilitates the teaching process, introduces practice to engineering students, and hones the managerial skills of those who have already engaged in decision making processes.