Page 72 - 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

RECOMMENDATIONS 55

adapt development programs to support the professional growth of
engineering faculty.

The half-life of cutting-edge technical knowledge today is on the
order of a few years, but globalization of the economy is accelerating
and the international marketplace for engineering services is dynamic.
In such an environment, an engineer is like a small boat in a storm-
tossed sea if he or she cannot recognize global trends and lacks the abil-
ity, instinct, or desire for continuous learning. In the vein that one can
provide the means, if not ensure the ends, we recommend that

7. As well as delivering content, engineering schools must teach
engineering students how to learn, and must play a continuing role
along with professional organizations in facilitating lifelong learn-
ing, perhaps through offering “executive” technical degrees similar
to executive MBAs.

Real-world problems are rarely defined along narrow disciplinary
lines. Undergraduate students would benefit from at least cursory learn-
ing about the interplay between disciplines embodied in such problems.
Thus, we recommend that

8. Engineering schools introduce interdisciplinary learning in the
undergraduate environment, rather than having it as an exclusive
feature of the graduate programs.

It is sometimes said that, when a technical effort goes poorly, valu-
able knowledge from that failure is lost, the innocent are sacrificed, and
the guilty are promoted. This dooms future engineers to make the same
mistakes. The management of knowledge is somewhat better in the case
of successes, but it is questionable whether the real elements of success
are identified separate of the marketing “spin” for the product or ser-
vice. In this case, following the “same” path to success may be an illu-
sion. In the interest of promoting success and avoiding failure, we rec-
ommend that

9. Engineering educators should explore the development of case
studies of engineering successes and failures and the appropriate

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