Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Systems Engineering Training and Education in the Department of Defense

Abstract

While current systems engineering certification courses within the Department of Defense appear to do a pretty good job of training and educating the workforce, improvements can be made. The use of more problem-based methods of learning would equip the students with better problem identification and reasoning skills needed to solve the complex problems they encounter on the job. Learning outcomes in some of these courses could be rewritten to target the analyze, evaluate, and create levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, thereby improving student critical thinking skills and ultimately improving far-transfer of learning to the job. Also, learning assessment methods in a few of the courses could be changed to focus more on the assessment of conceptual understanding, vice rote memorization, in order to promote deep learning. Recommendations are also presented for additional research into a more effective systems engineering andragogy.