Page 36 - 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

GETTING TO 2020: GUIDING STRATEGIES 19

the product (Did we meet our specifications?) and the process (Is it
simple, integrated, efficient?). The desired outcomes should include an
enhanced educational experience for engineering students, opportuni-
ties to pursue engineering as a liberal education, and, in the systems
context, program changes and/or efforts by engineering educators that
engage and support K-12 faculty, enhance public understanding of en-
gineering, foster technological literacy of the public, and elevate the
stature of the profession.
Two recent efforts at comprehensive innovation in engineering edu-
cation are those launched by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Engineering Education Coalitions (EECs; SRI International, 2000) and
the revision of the Engineering Accreditation Criteria by ABET, Inc.
(ABET, 2004b). The EECs addressed program structure, curricular con-
tent, and pedagogy. Formal evaluations of the various coalitions have
been mixed to negative in their judgments of their impact and effective-
ness, noting in particular the difficulty of achieving large-scale adoption
of the new educational materials developed by the EECs. In a sobering
observation, given the desire to impact the education of the engineer of
2020, Froyd (see paper in Appendix A) suggests that it might take several
decades for an EEC approach to succeed. On the other hand, comments
from many participants in the EECs have been much more positive
regarding their impact, noting that the EECs catalyzed a number of
systemic changes including the early introduction of engineering and
engineering design into the freshman/sophomore curriculum at many
institutions and the adoption of continual assessment programs at the
course, department, and college levels. They also lead to increased
involvement of engineering faculty in the education of freshman and
sophomore students; the use, for engineering faculty, of new pedagogical
modes; and the introduction of programs such as reverse engineering or
dissection.
With regard to ABET, it is noted that, in addition to addressing the
traditional educational topics, the revised criteria place particular em-
phasis on the stakeholder goals and objectives as reflected in the institu-
tional mission. ABET (2004a) also has recently begun exploring the
role of accreditation in preparing engineers for working in diverse envi-
ronments. However, ABET prohibits the accreditation of both a bacca-
laureate degree and a master’s degree in engineering programs with the
same name. ABET should revisit this prohibition.

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