Integrating professional and cultural concepts into an engineering course

This paper discusses a new paradigm for broadening the student perspective in engineering. A graduate level course in VLSI (very large scale integration) systems design has been taught in a manner that introduces students to both professional and cultural aspects of the engineering world. A Japanese corporate environment is used as the structural model. Students are called employees, given business cards and titles, and equal starting salaries. Design assignments, project reports, and evaluations (exams) determine any increase (or decrease) in individual salaries. The final grade is determined by the final salary each person has attained.