A Framework for Evaluation of University Human Factors Curricula

Abstract

Curriculum reviews are performed to provide grounds for adjustments necessary due to changes in student enrollment, teaching faculty, and goals and objectives of programs that have a substantial human factors component. This task is arguably quite difficult due to the very broad spectrum of the human factors discipline and lack of widely accepted standards or criteria for education in human factors. This paper describes a framework for review of undergraduate human factors curricula using the program at the University of Illinois as an example. The framework was implemented as a hierarchical relational database with a web interface. Populated with either existing curriculum or desired courses to be developed it allows for rapid analysis of overlap between individual courses, missing important human factors topics, and determination prerequisite knowledge for these, and a rigorous and formal way of keeping human factors curricula aligned with explicitly stated goals for the programs.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Columbia University Press (2003). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Retrieved from Answers.com on Dec. 15, 2005. http://www.answers.com/topic/engineering.

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (2004). Accreditation Self-Study Report Guide. Santa Monica, CA: Author.

Houghton Mifflin Company (2002). The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved from Answers.com on Dec. 15, 2005. http://www.answers.com/topic/liberal-arts.

Bernotat

Hunt

D. P.

(1977). University Curricula in Ergonomics. Wachtberg-Werthhoven, Germany: Forschungsinstitut für Anthropotechnik.

Jahns

D. W.

(1991). The education and certification of ergonomists: A practitioner's perspective. Human Factors Society Bulletin, 34(8), 4–6.

Rentzsch

(1994). Registrierung und Zertifizierung eines Europa-Ergonomen Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 48(3), 189–190.

Rookmaaker

D. P.

Hurts

C. M. M.

Corlett

E. N.

Queinnec

Schwier

(1992). Towards a European Registration Model for Ergonomists. Final report of the working group ‘Harmonising European Training Programs for the Ergonomics Profession’ (HETPEP). Leiden, NL.

Van Cott

H. P.

Huey

B. M.

(Eds.). (1992). Human Factors Specialists' Education and Utilization, Results of a Survey. Committee on Human Factors, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council, Washington, D. C.: National Academy Press.