Developing multi-disciplinary teams at a distance

Graduate engineers of the future will require abilities previously not considered 'core' to their professional practice. To develop these attributes, engineering educators and graduates will require an enhanced appreciation of the 'human' component in system development and operation. The Faculty of Engineering and Physical Systems and the School of Health and Human Performance at Central Queensland University have been working together to achieve this since 1996. This relationship spawned the first cycle of an action research project incorporating the disciplines of engineering and human factors (ergonomics - the study of the interface between humans and systems). This action research project is trying to develop the synergy of these two disciplines through an innovative teaching model. The project is currently in its third cycle and utilises a multidisciplinary project based learning model. Students from multi-disciplinary teams are cooperating to create a system that is optimal in engineering terms, and is an optimal design for all stakeholders. Students are co-operating throughout the system cycle. This paper represents the first three cycles in the action research process covering four years.