Page 41 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
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24 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020

skills and habits so that they can work within existing systems rather
than fixing the systems. Students have a role to play, but fixing the
system is not a problem solely, or even primarily, within their domain to
correct.
In addition to engaging these “direct” levers for change, the impact
of the Engineer of 2020 initiative will also depend on how well it en-
gages the perspectives, imagination, and energies of the broader spec-
trum of persons who can help in designing, implementing, and assess-
ing systemic change to create an American engineering enterprise in
2020 that will truly serve the interests of society. These include young
people who are the rising engineering leaders; those responsible for ca-
reer development in industry and government; practitioners from mul-
tiple disciplines and fields of inquiry beyond engineering; experts in
learning theory and colleagues from the learning sciences; those with
professional expertise in fields of ethics, communication, and leadership
theory; iconoclasts within and beyond engineering, skeptical about the
potential of technologies; and those pioneers already mounting pro-
grams to change the profession, the practice of engineering, and the
environment in which students discover the essence of engineering and
are motivated to become engineers.

PURSUE STUDENT-CENTERED EDUCATION

One should address how students learn as well as what they learn in
order to ensure that student learning outcomes focus on the perfor-
mance characteristics needed in future engineers. Two major tasks de-
fine this focus: (1) better alignment of engineering curricula and the
nature of academic experiences with the challenges and opportunities
graduates will face in the workplace and (2) better alignment of faculty
skill sets with those needed to deliver the desired curriculum in light of
the different learning styles of students.
Engineering professional societies have recognized this challenge
and are actively engaged in efforts to create better alignment between
academic experiences and anticipated future workplace requirements.
For example, various engineering societies are revisiting the bodies of
knowledge that should be expected of professionals in their disciplines,
including civil (ASCE, 2004) and chemical engineering (Lidtke et al.,
2004), computer engineering (IEEE, 2004), and mechanical engineer-
ing (Laity, 2004). Engineering professional societies and university fac-

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