PCEC News
Engineering Faculty Publishes Open Access Text Book
March 09, 2020
Open access text books have several advantages over traditional printed text books. Using open access allows a faculty member to bring their own ideas and approaches on course materials to life for GVSU students and students around the world. No need to conform to the needs of publishers for profitability. Open access allows the integration of written materials with computational capabilities such as spreadsheets as well as videos and web pages. Open access materials can be provided on-line at no charge versus the high cost of printed text books particularly in engineering. They can be updated and improved as needed.
In December 2019, GVSU Libraries published the open access text book: Introduction to Production: Philosophies, Flow, and Analysis by Professor Charles Standridge that is available at https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/books/22/. This text is used in the undergraduate and master’s level production courses in the School of Engineering.
An integrated introduction to production is presented in a set of learning modules. Significantly, these learning modules are based on over 20 years of interactions with the professional production community in the West Michigan region. Students in the Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Master of Science in Engineering programs at Grand Valley State University often work in production for these companies. Thus, interactions are facilitated particularly though master’s degree capstone projects, several of which are referenced in the learning modules.
Professional practice is a focus of the learning modules. Material from processional groups such as the Lean Enterprise Institute and the Material Handling Institute (MHI) is integrated. The opportunity to read and discuss professional publications presenting production improvement projects is provided. Students are referred to professional videos and web sites throughout the learning modules.
Introduction to Production builds upon the material in another open access text book by Professor Standridge: Beyond Lean: Simulation in Practice https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/books/6/ which has been downloaded over 7800 times worldwide since its publication in March 2012.
You invited to download all or part of both text books free of charge.
Article written by Dr. Charles Standridge.