Cultivation of Engineering Soft Skills Within the Constraints of a Prescribed Curriculum

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varghese Panthalookaran
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Real World ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Skill Training ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
Prescribed Curriculum

Engineering soft skills are required of an engineer to excel in his/her career and profession. For engineering education institutions affiliated to a central university and working with a prescribed curriculum, it is often difficult to find time for real-world training of students in soft skills. The current paper summarizes the programs designed for undergraduate engineering students of an affiliated engineering institution in order to circumvent this problem. They integrate training in engineering soft skills with the regular academic schedule exerting minimal extra-loading for the students and ensuring individual attention. The distribution of training programs in time also facilitates natural and gradual development of the values, attitudes and soft-skills. Further, integration of soft skill training programs into regular academic schedule enhances the interest of students in academics.

The Decline of Undergraduate Engineering Education in the United States

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mancil W. Milligan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Real World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Accreditation Process ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
Rational Actions ◽  
Real World Problems

Examples of the decline in the mastery of engineering fundamentals and the ability to apply these fundamentals to real world problems are presented. There are enhanced abilities in today’s graduates and these are discussed. No attempt is made to assign blame for the decline in capabilities since there are many contributors to this change. Some of the factors contributing to the decline include student evaluations of instruction, misuse of homework, diminished reading comprehension, pressure on faculty to be productive in research, and the decrease in mastery required in the accreditation process. Each of the factors is discussed in some depth and rational actions are proposed to reverse this disturbing trend.

scholarly journals PEER FEEDBACK OVER TIME

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia N. Smith ◽  
Thomas A. O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Skill Development ◽  
Peer Feedback ◽  
Critical Component ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Teamwork Skills ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Over Time

Abstract –Given the ubiquity of teamwork in engineering education and industry1, developing teamwork skills in undergraduate students is a critical component of their training. This is supported by the inclusion of ‘individual and teamwork’ as a graduate attribute by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board2. The current work explores the development of teamwork skills through the use of multiple administrations of peer feedback, in order to explore the value of using several administrations and support past findings that have suggested increased administrations provide incremental improvements. Additionally, the paper discusses the use of an empirically validated and user-friendly tool used to deliver the peer feedback assessments. The results suggest that students find the tool easy to use and that they believed the feedback they received and gave was accurate and useful. Together, these results suggest that peer feedback, delivered using the ITPMetrics.com platform, is an effective and well-received method of fostering soft-skill development in engineering students.  

scholarly journals Food science and technology students self-evaluate soft and technical skills

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine M. Flynn ◽  
Peter Ho ◽  
Margarida C. Vieira ◽  
Paola Pittia ◽  
Marco Dalla Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Soft Skills ◽  
Skill Training ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Work Place ◽  
Food Science ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Signed Rank ◽  
Scientific Technical ◽  
Food And Drink

Food Scientists and Technologists (FS&T) need diverse skills in the globalized food and drink sector: Food-specific or scientific / technical skills and generic or intuitive soft skills. This study determined how satisfied FS&T students were with overall improvement, and in key technical and soft skills, based on their university work; and if satisfaction was linked to geography, degree in progress, anticipated degree, anticipated work place or anticipated job responsibility. An on-line survey was completed by 267 students in over 20 countries using a 5-point Likert scale to evaluate satisfaction. Responses were analyzed by the Friedman or Kruskal Wallis tests for more than two groups, otherwise by the Wilcoxon Signed Rank or Mann-Whitney tests. There were no differences in Overall Satisfaction with technical and soft skills training. Among soft skills, training in Working with Others and Being Responsible were more often rated “Excellent” and students were more satisfied with their training than with Solving Problems, Communication and Positive Attitude. Students anticipating a job with high responsibility were more satisfied with overall soft skill training and with 3 of the 5 specific soft skills. Among technical skills, students were more satisfied with improvement in basic sciences (Microbiology, Chemistry, Processing, Safety), and those in Northern Europe were more satisfied with overall technical training. These data show variations in perception and/or efficacy of technical and soft skill training in Food Science programmes and underline the need for separate attention to the incorporation of soft skill training into the design of FS&T courses.

scholarly journals WHY DOES IT MATTER? EXPLAINING THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPLEMENTARY STUDIES TO FIRST-YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Donald ◽  
Sofie Lachapelle ◽  
Thomas Sasso ◽  
Kyle Augusto ◽  
M. Gloria Gonzalez-Morales
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The University

While complementary studies are an accreditation requirement and feature prominently in the Canadian engineering curriculum, focus-group conversations with upper-year engineering students have indicated that a lack of awareness of, and appreciation for, soft skills development often prevents students from benefiting from complementary studies to the fullest. Given this reported difficulty to grasp the importance of complementary studies, a study was undertaken at the University of Guelph using a quasi-experimental design to explore the possibility that triggering self-assessment and awareness about career development early in the engineering curriculum promotes greater engagement with complementary studies and soft-skill development. First-year engineering students took part in a learner-centered activity focused on the importance of complementary studies for the development of soft skills. Through active learning exercises and case studies of successful engineering graduates, who described the skills and knowledge required to perform their daily work, the session was designed to encourage students to develop greater self-awareness and intentionality about complementary studies and their associated graduate attributes. The outcomes of this activity and issues on how to embed it in the Engineering first-year curriculum will be discussed

scholarly journals Engaging Software Engineering Students with Employability Skills

2016 ◽  
pp. 1765-1802
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Armarego
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Software Engineering ◽  
Longitudinal Data ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Engineering Software ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering

This chapter explores the findings from an Action Research project that addressed the Professional Capability Framework (Scott & Wilson, 2002), and how aspects of this were embedded in an undergraduate Engineering (Software) degree. Longitudinal data identified the challenges both staff and students engaged with. The interventions that were developed to address these are described and discussed. The results of the project show that making soft skills attainment explicit as part of the learning objectives went a long way in assisting students to engage with the activities that exercised these skills.

scholarly journals Engaging Software Engineering Students With Employability Skills

2017 ◽  
pp. 1800-1838
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Armarego
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Software Engineering ◽  
Longitudinal Data ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Engineering Software ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering

This chapter explores the findings from an Action Research project that addressed the Professional Capability Framework, and how aspects of this were embedded in an undergraduate Engineering (Software) degree. Longitudinal data identified the challenges both staff and students engaged with. The interventions that were developed to address these are described and discussed. The results of the project show that making soft skills attainment explicit as part of the learning objectives went a long way in assisting students to engage with the activities that exercised these skills.

Controlled Experiments as Means to Teach Soft Skills in Software Engineering

2017 ◽  
pp. 1355-1373
Author(s):  
Marco Kuhrmann ◽  
Henning Femmer ◽  
Jonas Eckhardt
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Soft Skill ◽  
Hard Skills ◽  
University Course ◽  
Job Profile

The job profile of a Software Engineer not only includes so-called “hard-skills” (e.g. specifying, programming, or building architectures) but also “soft skills” like awareness of team effects and similar human factors. These skills are typically hard to teach in classrooms, and current education, hence, mostly focuses on hard rather than soft skills. Yet, since software development is becoming more and more spread across different sites in a globally distributed manner, the importance of soft skills increases rapidly. However, there are only a few practical guides to teach such tacit knowledge to Software Engineering students. In this chapter, the authors describe an approach that combines theoretical lectures, practical experiments, and discussion sessions to fill this gap. They describe the processes of creating, planning, executing, and evaluating these sessions, so that soft skill topics can be taught in a university course. The authors present two example implementations of the approach. The first implementation lets students experience and reflect on group dynamics and team-internal effects in a project situation. The second implementation enables students to understand the challenges of a distributed software development setting. With this knowledge, the authors critically discuss the contribution of experimentation to university teaching.

Experiences of Belonging in Engineering Undergraduate Education at Queen’s

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Buitenhuis
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Undergraduate Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Engineering Profession ◽  
Socialization Process ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Engineering Program ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education

The purpose of this study is to explore the role that the engineering undergraduate degree plays in the socialization process of professional engineers.  I will look at how exclusion is normalized through undergraduate education.  To do this, I will analyze the history and content of the Iron Ring Ceremony. This ceremony has symbolic significance to engineering students as it marks the completion of the undergraduate degree. It is also a ceremony unique to Canada, which will provide insights into the engineering profession in the Canadian context. I will also conduct interviews with 12 graduates of the Queen's undergraduate engineering program to gain insights into how engineering undergraduate education plays a role in shaping engineering identities. I will use my findings regarding the Iron Ring Ceremony to understand feelings of belonging and patterns of exclusion and inclusion throughout undergraduate engineering education.

A Practical Approach for Problem-Based Learning in Engineering

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily M. Hunt ◽  
Pamela Lockwood-Cooke ◽  
Paul Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Real World ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Problem Based Learning ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Complex Problem ◽  
Engineering Problem ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Engineering Mathematics

Problem-based Learning (PBL) is a motivating, problem-centered teaching method with exciting potential in engineering education. PBL can be used in engineering education to bridge the gap between theory and practice in a gradual way. The most common problem encountered when attempting to integrate PBL into the undergraduate engineering classroom is the time requirement to complete a significant, useful problem. Because PBL has such potential in engineering, mathematics, and science education, professors from engineering, mathematics, and physics have joined together to solve small pieces of a large engineering problem concurrently in an effort to reduce the time required to solve a complex problem in any one class. This is a pilot project for a National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Science Talent Expansion Program (STEP) grant entitled Increasing Numbers, Connections, and Retention in Science and Engineering (INCRSE) (NSF 0622442). The students involved are undergraduate mechanical engineering students that are co-enrolled in Engineering Statics, Calculus II, and Engineering Physics I. These classes are linked using PBL to increase both student engagement and success. The problem addresses concepts taught in class, reinforces connections among the courses, and provides real-world applications. Student, faculty, and industry assessment of the problem reveals a mutually beneficial experience that provides a link for students between in-class concepts and real-world application. This method of problem-based learning provides a practical application that can be used in engineering curricula.

Multiscale-Based Mechanical Engineering Education

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Karami ◽  
R. V. Pieri
Keyword(s):  
Finite Elements ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Multiscale Analysis ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Classical Mechanics ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Computer Aided ◽  
Engineering Mechanics ◽  
Finite Elements Model

The classical engineering mechanics courses of Statics, Dynamics and Strength of Materials are taught to most engineering disciplines. With the advent of multiscale analysis and practice, reforms should be implemented in such classical mechanics courses to address the change so that they won't be limited only to continuum and macro-based level, but to include all the scales. This paper will suggest revisions that should be implemented in these courses. This includes introducing the concepts of multiscale engineering and the addition of new modules in the form of example problems in micro and nano-scales. Relying upon the framework of existing courses and using the existing physical and intellectual resources, an array of educational activities will be suggested to provide such an opportunity for undergraduate engineering students. The efforts will be substantiated and facilitated using the simulation capabilities of Computer Aided Engineering and Drawing (CADD) techniques as well as the analysis capabilities of Finite Elements Model (FEM) procedures.

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