The First Course

Determining the proper pedagogy for our first course has been a key challenge for the Department of Systems Engineering at the United States Military Academy.When our department was formed in 1989 we did not design a first course that provided the foundation for the curriculum.In a major curriculum redesign in 2000, we designed a gateway course for all department majors, titled "Introduction to Engineering Design and Systems Management."As we are a problem solving systems engineering program, the course was designed around a systems design decision process: the Systems Engineering and Management Process.After a very good start, the course drifted because we lacked sufficient documentation defining the process and the techniques.In 2006, unable to find an appropriate text for our course, the first author used his sabbatical to lead the development of a book to be the text and a reference for our capstone research course that culminates our engineering programs.With tremendous help from our colleagues, the first draft of our text was completed and used in Fall 2006.We designed the text and the first course based on three core foundations: systems thinking, the profession of systems engineering, and a new value-focused Systems Decision Process.After several revisions, our text, Decision Making for Systems Engineering and Management, was published in the Wiley Systems Engineering Series in early 2008.The authors redesigned the introductory course, now titled "Fundamentals of Systems Design and Management," around a system thinking presentation, an individual decision problem, and a group design project.We have continued to improve the course for the past two years.operational leaders for first five years of their career.Later in their careers, some will have the opportunity to work as systems engineers and engineering managers, especially officers assigned to the Corps of Engineers and the Acquisition Corps.However, the skills we teach are critical for all branches of the Army.In addition, we have some unique West Point constraints.First, our cadets choose their major in the Fall of their sophomore year and generally the second semester of their sophomore year is the first time they can take a course in their chosen major.Also, with a maximum of 18 students per class and approximately 150 majors, we have multiple sections and multiple instructors for most of our courses.We have a mix of Ph.D. and M.S. faculty and a mix of military and civilian faculty.The permanent military faculty and the civilian military faculty have Ph.Ds. in relevant disciplines.Our non-permanent, M.S. military instructors have significant Army operational experience but limited experience in their academic discipline since they come to West Point directly after receiving their degree.However, with their operational experience, they are able to demonstrate to