THE FRESH CONNECTION AS AN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING TOOL IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY

• Tanya Kok School of Industrial Engineering, North-West University, South Africa https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9639-2488
• Maria van Zyl-Cillié School of Industrial Engineering, North-West University, South Africa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3320-706X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7166/35-3-3087

Abstract

Industrial engineering curricula are traditionally based on a foundation of science and mathematics. Given the nature of these disciplines, industrial engineering students often lack the opportunity to engage with content practically. Experiential learning (EL) is an educational process in which students learn through doing, and incorporating this into engineering education has proven to improve learning outcomes and experiences. The Fresh Connection (TFC) is a commercially available supply chain management business game that can be used to incorporate EL into the industrial engineering curriculum. This research is a case study of using TFC as an EL tool in the supply chain management module of an undergraduate industrial engineering programme at a South African university. Although the results show some gaps between the theoretical concepts covered in TFC and this case study’s undergraduate supply chain module, it is concluded that TFC is an effective EL tool. Furthermore, the research concludes that TFC positively affects student learning outcomes and experiences.