Page 122 - 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 105

Martello, Joanne Pratt, Mark Somerville, Jon Stolk, and Brian Storey;
the student partner was Sean Munson. This group put forward the first
detailed proposal for the Olin curriculum.
In the fall of 2002, Michael E. Moody joined Olin College as dean
of the faculty and assumed direct leadership of the development of the
Olin curriculum. Dean Moody created a successor group to CDMB,
the Academic Recommendations Board, which currently oversees cur-
ricular modifications and changes. Although modifications are being
introduced to the curriculum described below, most of the fundamental
concepts and structure have not changed.

THE INITIAL OLIN CURRICULUM

For the last 20 years, NSF and the engineering community have
been calling for systemic changes in engineering education:

• a shift from disciplinary to interdisciplinary approaches
• more emphasis on communication and teamwork skills
• more emphasis on the social, environmental, business, and po-
litical context of engineering
• improved capacity for lifelong learning
• more emphasis on engineering practice and design throughout
the curriculum

In this section, we describe the “first fruits” of Olin’s efforts to re-
think engineering education—the first Olin curriculum, which was
implemented in the fall of 2002. The curriculum combines best prac-
tices from many other institutions with new ideas and approaches. Be-
cause Olin is committed to continuous innovation and improvement,
the curriculum described in this document represents only the “initial
conditions” for continuous curriculum reviews and refinements that will
never really end. As expected, improvements and adjustments are al-
ready being made.

CURRICULAR PHILOSOPHY
The founding principle of Olin College of Engineering is to pre-
pare leaders who can predict, create, and manage the technologies of the
future. Such leaders must have the following characteristics:

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