Purdue IE’s new course, “Systems, Decisions, and Change and the IE Profession” (IE 49000), was designed to help students better prepare for their professional future, while increasing their understanding of the broad theoretical underpinnings of the curriculum.

IE’s Undergraduate Program Senior Academic Administrator Dr. Patrick Brunese worked with fellow Academic Advisors Elizabeth Allum and Morgan Kuryla to develop the course. He saw a need for IE upperclassmen to reflect on the curriculum and profession, connect and interact more with each other, faculty and alumni as they chart their career development paths.

“This is going to be a very interactive class,” says Brunese. Based on several years of feedback from students and alumni, he feels that lower-level classes do not always give students enough opportunity “to reflect on what you’re really here for”. The course is a follow-up to the required sophomore seminar course, IE 20000, which serves as the introduction to the IE discipline, and the School of IE at Purdue. IE 20000 focuses largely on presentations from alumni and companies, and doesn’t offer a significant opportunity for students to interact with the guest lecturers or each other. In addition, it is generally taken during a student’s first semester as an IE student, so there is little opportunity to build on their experiences within the discipline. By contrast, IE 49000 will combine theory with a reflective structure. The theoretical content will cover the areas of: systems theory, decision analysis, and change management, and will include significant readings by thought leaders from inside and outside of IE in each topic area. Brunese says that organizational change management is not usually covered in-depth in IE courses, but IE graduates must understand change theory well in order to succeed in the field. In addition, the course will emphasize the interdisciplinary aspects of the above topics which will be critical for the next generation of IE alumni as the application of IE tools becomes more diverse within industry.

The new course emphasizes career development and will help students develop a professional development plan. The course will also include common personality assessment tools such as Myers-Briggs and StrengthsFinder, to get students to understand the importance of self in their career development. The course is delivered in an active learning format and each week students will write a “reflection” on that week’s reading, engage in interactive activities and lecture, and submit follow up reflections, among other assignments.

While discussing the first reflective assignment, a “Learner Profile”, students stated they’d registered to extend their knowledge beyond the IE 20000 seminar course, and also to develop additional professional skills and learn new approaches to problem-solving. They said they look forward to interacting further with IE 20000 seminar guest speakers and applying IE principles.

Brunese, Allum and Kuryla also look forward to interacting with the students frequently during the course. “We’re taking this course with you,” they say, as they participate in the readings, reflections and discussions.

Writer: DeEtte Starr, starrd@purdue.edu