Engineering
Education for the 21st Century: Development of an Information
Technology Based Design Oriented Curriculum
Summary
The
School of Engineering at Washington University is embarking on an ambitious
program to become the leader in the development of new and innovative tools and
instructional materials to meet the challenges of educating engineers in the 21st
century. For this purpose, we have prepared a plan that was endorsed by NSF in
the form of a major grant to upgrade our curriculum.
The
objective of this proposal for engineering curricula revision is to use the
advances in IT to enhance the way we package and deliver engineering concepts
in a practical and relevant way. This
proposal addresses some of the toughest challenges faced by the academic
engineering community in adapting to the shifting paradigms in presentation and
assimilation of concepts and themes that are relevant to engineering practice
today. We will develop the
instructional facilities and curriculum aids to enable the education of a new
generation of engineers capable of functioning efficiently in today's IT driven
engineering practice.
1.Motivation
According to a recent NAE report, “Computers and Information Technology (IT) are driving an accelerating increase in the productive organization of the human enterprise, from manufacturing to entertainment, telecommunications, transportation and education” (NRC, 1995). The developments in IT are changing the way we deliver, consume and administer education. Today we are educating a new generation of engineers raised on “Sesame Street”, where teaching using dynamic visual imagery is emphasized. In addition to the influence of television, today’s generation is immersed in a computerized world replete with electronic games and toys. Interactive learning has become the norm. Simultaneously there have been significant changes in engineering practice. We are moving from process design to product design, from individual projects to team projects, from experience-based design to model-based design, from calculator-based computations to computer simulations, and from paper-based documentation to IT-based archives covering all aspects of design, building and operation from project conception to end of life. Engineering curricula have to adapt to these changes, as we need engineers adept in computer-aided design tools and IT to execute concurrent, collaborative design projects.
Advances in computers and
Information Technology provide an unprecedented opportunity to reconfigure the
way we educate the next generation of engineers (NAE, 1998). Faculty now has
access to a much greater menu of resources to supplement the classroom
teaching. Computers and IT help us create and disseminate new, globally
accessible instructional materials. The availability of powerful engineering
software enable the engineering student to address real world problems with
precision and accuracy at a much greater level of detail than in the past.
Web-based delivery and distance learning are increasingly used to reach a
geographically distributed student body. No significant effort has been
undertaken to provide students with hands-on experience in the use of IT-based
tools to function effectively in collaborative projects, to manage resources
and data, and to become familiar with e-trade/commerce practices. This
experience is essential for future engineers who can be anticipated to function
in a global market mediated by computers and the Internet.
2. Background
The
Grintner Report (ASEE, 1955) following WWII and the Goals Report (Walker, 1968)
following the Sputnik era have played a significant role in shaping engineering
education in the United States as it is practiced today. Lately, the drastic changes in the practice
of engineering brought on by
revolutionary advances in computer and information technology, require
us to rethink the way engineering is taught (NRC, 1995; 1999). Engineering plays a major role in solving
modern societal problems of energy, food, transportation, manufacturing and
environmental protection (NAE, 1998). Major paradigm shifts are taking place in
higher education, as shown below:
Old Paradigm New
Paradigm
Rigid Schedule Courses
on Demand
Terminal Degree Lifelong
Learning
Books as Primary Medium Information on Demand
Delivery in Classroom Delivery Anywhere
Bricks and Mortar Bits
and Bytes
Technology as an Expense Technology to Improve Efficiency and Productivity
Combined
with these shifting paradigms is the recognition that engineering is best
learned by doing rather than passive classroom lectures. Research by education experts indicate that
the retention rate of material from a passive lecture is only 5% whereas the
concepts learned by doing are retained at a significantly higher 75% level. In
the past, learning by doing was difficult to practice due to limited tools and
resources. Recent advances in IT can be
used to develop new, affordable and pragmatic means to teach engineering by
incorporating the elements of the new paradigm. The new ABET 2000 Accreditation
criteria (ABET, 1998) represent a shift in emphasis from rigid, specified
curricula requirements to an outcome-based assessment that provides greater
freedom in the way engineering is taught.
This also creates an opportunity to revise the curriculum to meet the
changing demands on graduating engineers (Proctor, 1999).
The
growing national information and communication infrastructure now provides an
exciting range of opportunities to improve educational technology. A number of
initiatives are underway currently to utilize IT in the classroom, notable
among them being Project I-campus at MIT and the Virtual Classroom at RPI. Initiatives are also underway at the
National Research Council through a program on the Digital National Library for
Undergraduate SMET Education (NRC, 1998).
Through support from the National Science Foundation, a number of universities have developed courseware to supplement the curriculum. For example, CACHE (1999) puts out a variety of software and computer assisted instructional modules. These modules are meant to help the student reinforce concepts learned in the classroom, but at a self-paced rate. For the most part, these modules tend to be self-contained which make them suitable as stand-alone software. We plan to make use of many of these modules in this project.
3. Proposal
We propose to start with a seed project that will
focus initially on chemical engineering courses. Once the methodology and
techniques have been established the concepts will be extended to other
disciplines. We propose to develop a world-class undergraduate instructional
laboratory that will house state-of-the-art, industry-standard hardware and
engineering software. This laboratory
will form the framework for the achieving the following specific goals;
(i)
Develop and deploy IT-based,
globally-accessible instruction aids for design-oriented learning using
Internet Ready Instruction Modules (IRIMs) based
on collaborative, multi-disciplinary team projects using industry standard
software. We will use our current contacts with our industrial partners to
develop modules that are of current relevance. For example we have had a long
history of working with Boeing in the area of advanced composite materials.
Hence an IRIM on this topic would introduce our undergraduates to an
industrially important design projects in this area.
(ii)
Develop and deploy IT-based
Virtual Laboratory (VLAB) Modules to enhance the teaching of core engineering courses in thermodynamics, heat
and mass transfer and process control.
VLAB modules will emphasize learning and reinforcement of concepts
through simulated laboratory experiments and mini design projects.
(iii)
Education of engineers well versed in IT-based
communication, management and commerce. Proposed mechanisms include presentation and communication of their design projects in the form
of start-up company models.
(iv)
Web based delivery of
courses, resources and data management to provide learning on demand to a
geographically distributed student body.
Major funding to achieve the above goals has been
approved by the National Science Foundation. This proposal seeks to raise
matching funds for the hardware and software needed to set up the instructional
computer lab.
5. Educational Impact
We
view this as a seed project that will impact the instruction of engineering courses
on a nationwide basis. All of the
course materials developed (courseware modules, software/manuals and
multidisciplinary design projects) will be made freely available to all
educational institutions through the worldwide web. In addition, these modules will be submitted to national
engineering societies for dissemination in a CD-ROM format. The results of our project as measured using
the outcomes based assessment (OBA) tools will be presented at national
meetings and submitted for publication in leading engineering education
journals. We will also approach leading
publishing houses about publishing the educational materials in an engineering
education handbook and CD-ROM.