Page 120 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11338.html

DESIGNING FROM A BLANK SLATE 103

needs in engineering education. In addition, consultants were brought
to campus to discuss specific topics, and the results of the NSF coalition
programs were reviewed in detail. The data were then compiled and
discussed in a series of faculty meetings and off-campus retreats. With
the arrival of the student partners, various teaching and learning con-
cepts developed during the previous year were tested with “real” fresh-
man-age students.
Several of the principles that emerged have stood the test of time
and are still used to guide curricular discussions. One of these, the “Olin
Triangle,” was first proposed as a visual expression of Olin’s goal to “edu-
cate the whole person” and “open doors to student possibilities” (see
Figure 1). The Olin Triangle shows the three major dimensions of an
Olin engineering education: (1) superb engineering; (2) a strong em-
phasis on art, design, creativity, and innovation; and (3) basics in busi-
ness, entrepreneurship, ethics, and a spirit of philanthropy.
“Bold Goals” were developed by the founding faculty at one of the
first off-campus retreats, in the fall of 2000. The Bold Goals summa-
rized the curricular objectives at that time and are still used to guide
curriculum development:

• hands-on design projects in every year
• authentic, ambitious capstone senior/advanced-student projects
(representative of professional practice)

Superb Engineering

Arts Entrepreneurship
Creativity, Innovation, Design, Philanthropy, Ethics
Communications

FIGURE 1 The Olin Triangle.

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