Practicing Relevant Skills in the Classroom: Advice From Experts in the Industry to Professors

A particular challenge to professors of human factors/ergonomics courses in academia is to make their syllabi and course contents relevant to the demands placed on graduates from human factors programs as they enter the labor market. Recent surveys suggest that academic curricula indeed fall short of expectations in several critical areas. To respond to these challenges and the demonstrated deficiencies, a panel of human factors professionals from various areas in the industry suggested ways to incorporate relevant skills exercises in academic curricula. This panel is part of an ongoing dialog between employers of human factors/ergonomics professionals in the industry and the professors of human factors students in academia.