Page 42 - 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 25

ulty also have come together recently to improve the quality and effec-
tiveness of instruction and student learning. The American Institute of
Chemical Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Institute of Electri-
cal and Electronics Engineers are collaborating to offer “Excellence in
Engineering Education” teaching workshops for engineering faculty. 2

DEVELOP A RESEARCH BASE
The National Science Board has observed that

The organizational structures and processes for educating,
maintaining skills, and employing science and engineering tal-
ent in the workforce are diverse and their interrelationships
complex and dynamic. As a result, production and employ-
ment of scientists and engineers are not well understood as a
system. (NSB, 2003, p. 26)

Moreover, the system is evolving. Rosalyn Williams, historian of
science and technology, has asserted that engineering is undergoing a
transformative evolution as a profession. The most fundamental engi-
neering processes remain the same (design, development, and so on),
but the domains of application are rapidly expanding. We need to de-
velop enhanced understanding of models of engineering practice in this
evolving environment (Williams, 2003). The medical community offers
an example of the development of such models (Council on Graduate
Medical Education, 1999) and nascent efforts exist in the engineering
community (see, e.g., description of a seminar sponsored by the Univer-
sity of Western Australia Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Math-
3
ematics and Auyang [2004]). Although progress is being made, much
remains to be done in developing the research base underlying best prac-
tices in engineering education (Wankat et al., 2002) and faculty profes-
sional practice generally (Arreola et al., 2003). 4

2 ExcEED Teaching Workshops for Engineering Faculty. Available online at http://
www.asme.org/education/prodev/teach/.
3 Professional Engineering Skills Research. Available online at http://www.mech.
uwa.edu.au/jpt/pes.html.
4 Beyond characterizing the system, a key challenge is to understand the roles of the
various stakeholders. See Siller and Johnson (2004).

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