Cutting-edge innovations in education are often not translated into new courses and curricula until decades after their development. Improving educational strategies in engineering cannot wait decades. The pool of engineers in the U.S. is neither large enough nor diverse enough to meet the needs of a growing high-tech economy and produce engineering solutions to the difficult problems the country faces nationally and internationally.
This project seeks to (a) develop a computer simulation game—Nephrotex: The Dialysis Redesign Project—for engineering undergraduates, modeled on authentic engineering practices, (b) incorporate this gaming technology into an engineering undergraduate course at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and (c) assess learning outcomes through computer gaming platform–assisted data collection and analysis.
The project will address four components: creating learning materials and teaching strategies, developing faculty expertise, implementing educational innovations, and assessing student achievement.
The project is tailored to the newest generation of engineering students who are more computer literate, electronically connected, and simulation game–oriented than any prior generation. It will make significant, positive contributions to knowledge about engineering education by testing an existing theory of professional learning in a novel context, targeting measurable outcomes and conducting a robust project evaluation.
| 
