TY - GEN
T1 - Fostering reflective engineers
T2 - 2018 World Engineering Education Forum - Global Engineering Deans Council, WEEF-GEDC 2018
AU - Campbell, Ryan C.
AU - Reible, Danny D.
AU - Taraban, Roman
AU - Kim, Jeong Hee
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 IEEE.
PY - 2018/7/2
Y1 - 2018/7/2
N2 - Engineering education traditionally focuses on technical content and problem-solving, leaving little room in the curriculum to examine broader environmental and socio-technical impacts of engineering work. However, if engineers wish to have intentional, positive influences on these broader impacts, skills for reflective thinking and ethical decision-making are essential. The arts and humanities can provide important and often neglected perspectives for engineers in developing such skills. In a recent seminar course for civil/environmental engineers, we explored ways of developing these skills through activities including Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), in-class readings discussions, essay writing, and portfolio assignments. In this paper, we present selected findings from this experimental course. While the class was small, comprised of a dozen graduate students, results were encouraging. For example, findings from qualitative thematic analysis of pre- A nd post-course essays showed an increase in recognition of the importance of breadth of knowledge and/or perspective. Similarly, pre-post Likert-type survey results showed a statistically significant increase (p<0.005, d=1, n=10) in Contextual Competence, a self-reported measure of ability to anticipate and understand the impacts and constraints of broader contexts on engineering solutions. These findings are preliminary but suggest the course helped students develop capacity for reflection through arts- A nd humanities-based activities.
AB - Engineering education traditionally focuses on technical content and problem-solving, leaving little room in the curriculum to examine broader environmental and socio-technical impacts of engineering work. However, if engineers wish to have intentional, positive influences on these broader impacts, skills for reflective thinking and ethical decision-making are essential. The arts and humanities can provide important and often neglected perspectives for engineers in developing such skills. In a recent seminar course for civil/environmental engineers, we explored ways of developing these skills through activities including Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), in-class readings discussions, essay writing, and portfolio assignments. In this paper, we present selected findings from this experimental course. While the class was small, comprised of a dozen graduate students, results were encouraging. For example, findings from qualitative thematic analysis of pre- A nd post-course essays showed an increase in recognition of the importance of breadth of knowledge and/or perspective. Similarly, pre-post Likert-type survey results showed a statistically significant increase (p<0.005, d=1, n=10) in Contextual Competence, a self-reported measure of ability to anticipate and understand the impacts and constraints of broader contexts on engineering solutions. These findings are preliminary but suggest the course helped students develop capacity for reflection through arts- A nd humanities-based activities.
KW - arts
KW - context
KW - contextual competence
KW - ethics
KW - humanities
KW - reflection
KW - social justice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062830465&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/WEEF-GEDC.2018.8629714
DO - 10.1109/WEEF-GEDC.2018.8629714
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85062830465
T3 - 2018 World Engineering Education Forum - Global Engineering Deans Council, WEEF-GEDC 2018
BT - 2018 World Engineering Education Forum - Global Engineering Deans Council, WEEF-GEDC 2018
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Y2 - 12 November 2018 through 16 November 2018
ER -