Exercises/Techniques for Teaching Cognitive Systems Engineering

Abstract

There has been rapid growth in the field of Cognitive Systems Engineering in the past 8 years, as evidenced by the HFES formation of a technical group devoted to Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making in 1994, and the proliferation of papers that have been submitted to this technical group since that time. At least 7 universities have hired new faculty in the past 4 years specifically to teach Cognitive Engineering. Due to the complex, interdisciplinary nature of the field, and the broad background of students that enter this field, it is necessary to define a common core set of concepts and means for teaching those concepts in an effective way. For this panel, faculty from four universities share several exercises and demonstrations that they have found to actively and effectively involve students in learning key cognitive engineering concepts and techniques.