as a Ph.D. student is in autonomous vehicles, engineering education, and K-12 education.Anne M Lucietto (Associate Professor) © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022 Powered by www.slayte.com Soft and Hard Skills Balance among Engineering & Engineering Technology GraduatesAbstractTwenty-first-century life requires a sophisticated combination of "hard" and "soft" skills,especially for young engineers entering the workforce. Engineering and engineeringtechnology students have historically had different college program requirements withparallel curricula. The engineering curriculum has been predominantly theoretical
qualitativedata on self-reported perspectives on collaboration. The results of the pilot study suggest thatstudents working together from early stages have the opportunity to develop soft skills, expandtheir networks, and, most importantly, appreciate their counterpart’s perspectives. Finally, theauthors reflect on future research paths in collaborative learning as well as in soft skills trainingand development for majors from the construction industry.IntroductionGlobalization of the construction industry has elucidated the lack of cooperation required fromarchitects and civil engineers to work together in projects at a national and international levelworldwide [1]–[4]. This often translates to delays and economic losses in building projects. As aresult
manufacturing facilities. The five-week summer camp included anopportunity to gain OSHA-10 online training, basic theoretical and applied knowledge inengineering technology-related areas pertinent to entry-level manufacturing jobs, and thenecessary soft skills needed to meet regional employers' demand. Ten students that wereassessed from school districts surrounding the hosting institution participated in the first offeringof the camp in the summer of 2021. Topics customized for the potential trained, operator-levelemployee included industrial safety; basic industrial electrical distribution and motor theory;basic mechanical drive theory; and basic industrial automation theory, including industrialrobotics and programmable logic controller theory. All
injustices, polarizedsociety and that engendered modern societal discord within the built environment. Such issuesraised during the 4IR will require HEIs to develop greater capacity for ethical and interculturalunderstanding, placing a high premium on “soft skills” in engineering education withadaptability to address injustices from past practices (e.g. [14, 15]). Competence and skilldevelopment for workers in the nascent multibillion-dollar geospatial industry is prescribed bythe Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) [17]. Geospatial technologyprofessionals work in a variety of specializations of the geospatial industry includingsurveying/geomatics and mapping, civil engineering, architecture, urban planning, forestry, andcoastal and marine
-capstone survey was performed via an on-lineanonymous survey in May 2022. The questions in the on-line survey are shown as follows: © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition1. Did this capstone project enhance your learning about relevant technical skills? Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree N/A 5 4 3 2 1 02. Briefly state technical skills and/or tools learned through this capstone project?3. Did this Capstone project enhance your learning about soft skills in engineering? Strongly agree Agree
for Engineering Education, 2022 Powered by www.slayte.comWork-in-Progress: The Transformative Cauldron, Development of the Optimal Space-in-BetweenAbstractWhat are the elements of an optimal space in-between for cross-disciplinary designteams? Specifically, how does the development of high-quality soft skills, such as openness toperspective-taking, openness to failure, healthy problem-solving approaches, a growth mindset, astrong sense of agency, healthy curiosity/creativity, and an openness to a culture of inquiry bybuilding shared meaning impact the design experience of cross-disciplinary teams’ work?Deleuze and Guatarri [1] identify the ‘space in-between’ as a place where teammates negotiateshared
role. Requiredskills (sourced from O*Net, Burning Glass, the literature, and interpreted from the mappedworkflows) and associated technologies were also mapped for each stage. The tasks, skills, andassociated technologies that were identified are representative but non-exhaustive.Top current skills were selected from O*Net and Burning Glass from those most requested in thelast 12 months. Top growing skills were selected as the skills identified by Burning Glass with thefastest projected growth in the next two years as well as skills identified through recent literature.Since this review focused on mechanical engineers that are product designers, top technical skillssuch as plumbing, and HVAC were removed from the skills list. Soft skills such
support students’ preparedness andreadiness for the workforce.IntroductionSeveral scholarly works examined the role of problem-based pedagogies (PBL) in highereducation as a general pedagogical method (Barron et al., 1998; Cheney, 2004; Fosmire &Macklin, 2002). Others provide strategies for integrating PBL in engineering courses to expandhard and soft skills (Hsieh & Knight, 2008; Cioc et al., 2020, 2021). In all instances, the authorsfound that their PBL pilot implementations were more effective in knowledge transfer,participation, and interest, than a traditional lecture-based approach to instruction. The inclusionof an entrepreneurial mindset learning (EML) and promoted by the Kern EntrepreneurialEngineering Network (KEEN), into PBL
learning (PBL) can effectively foster their capability to deal with open-endedtechnical problems in their future careers. Additionally, the interactive nature of such methodscan facilitate knowledge retention of emerging and effective sustainability concepts. This studyhighlights how the PBL technique can develop soft skills during sustainability education toArchitecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) students at a minority-serving institution asan effort to promote professional skills of underrepresented groups, i.e., women of color,Latinos/Hispanics in a classroom. This study designed and implemented a PBL activity in across-listed Sustainable Approach to Construction course which introduced the students to: (1)sustainable infrastructure
Operatorlicense to collect images using a drone. The camp provided opportunities to expand soft skills,explore college-level research, and community outreach. The apprenticeship curriculum wasimplemented by undergraduate and graduate students which included: daily Python codingclasses, developing quality research skills, improving public speaking, and introducing careersin STEAM. Local female STEM leaders were guest speakers and provided career advice. Theprogram concluded with a research symposium where they presented their research in posterand presentation format.This paper will provide details about recruiting, lessons learned working with students andparents under COVID-19 restrictions and developing research agendas for high school
contribution describes threeadditional interventions within this NRT: a transferable skills course, an interdisciplinaryresearch proposal and project, and a multidisciplinary research symposium, along with theassessment and outcomes of each of these interventions.2. Description of the three interventions within UK’s NRT2.1. Transferable skills courseProfessional skills are often classified as either “hard” or “soft” skills. Hard skills are also called“technical”, “discipline”, or “core” skills because they relate to the technical knowledgenecessary to perform the discipline-specific tasks at the core of a job [3]. Soft skills, which aremore commonly identified with a worker’s personal qualities, are also called “enterprise” or“transferable” skills
technology.It is argued here, that the Division has failed to keep up with these changes, and that for manyof its members its purpose is about teaching engineering and technology to non-engineers andtechnologists, and not about the role of engineers and technologists in pursuit of a commongood. Evidence supporting this view, is the oft reported difficulty that engineering educatorshave in finding time for the development of soft skills in the curriculum, which is seenprimarily as engineering science divided for convenience into a number of appropriatedivisions based on a high level of competence in mathematics. The principle objection to theinclusion of soft skills and knowledge in the curriculum is that the curriculum becomesoverloaded.At least two
undergraduate students at a Civil Engineering program. It aims to improve theresearch competencies of civil engineering students through immersing the students in differenttypes of research exercises. The activities have been exploratory, experimental and theoretical.The focus of the new approach is on developing soft skills, gaining practical and hands-on skills,research management and planning, and presenting the results in an optimum manner. Sixundergraduate students from two departments were involved in various components of a researchproject related to the post-tensioned concrete structures. The core project started in a companyspecialized in post-tensioning industry.Initially, the learning objective was to gain a deep understanding of the
disseminated through aclass survey and the questions were formulated to have short responses as opposed to multiple-choice or Likert scale questions. The reason behind this was to receive constructive feedback aswell as criticism from the students for future improvements to the class project. The survey wascompleted by 20 students from the class of 23. Specific to the class project, the questions gaugeddifferent aspects of students learning/feedback as discussed below: 1) Student’s learning through hands-on project work in terms of technical and soft skills: - The question asked students to list 2 technical learning/skills and 2 soft skills each. Hands-on experience with 3D printing, CAD software, and design for AM
importance of leadership skills and theextent to which universities have prepared them to apply these skills professionally and foundthat they perceive leadership skills to be highly important for their careers though feelunderprepared when starting their careers [3], [15], [16]. When investigating student perceptionsof leadership skills, it is necessary determine if they understand the value of the trainings andrecognize the opportunity to apply these lessons during their academic experience. One studylooked at the students’ perceptions of soft skills relative to learning or doing well in their presentcourse of study, their future work or career, and how personally interested they are in developingeach set of capabilities [17]. They found that
stakeholders is part of consulting andworking in diverse teams, thus 93 percent of professional respondents identified soft skills aseither important or very important. Additionally, ABET [3] and CEBOK3[4] list soft skill topicsas knowledge topics and the educators polled viewed Technical Communications as an importanttopic as shown in Figure 10. Importance of soft skills such as communication, Percentage of Schools that creativity, negotiation, leadership, public speaking, Offer the Indicated Course and teamwork in engineering curriculum? to Undergraduate Students 99% 100% 3.3
humandevelopment [12]. Students become more sensitive to cultural issues and experience aheightened level of social responsibility [13]. These developed soft skills have the potential toextend to areas outside their academic experiences, like their career choices, participation inservice after college, or commitment to activism [10].While the experience component is critical to a service-learning project, this experience does notnecessarily result in learning [14]. The ability for students to recognize the meaning of theirexperience and personal development is enabled through preflection and reflection activities.Preflection is the idea of preparing students to think about their biases and establish theirexpectations before going into the service-learning
(EERC) (2006) framed theengineering education (EE) research field within five broad areas, including engineering learningmechanisms, learning systems, and assessment. To identify and offer the best solution for agiven problem, engineers must consider the economic and social impact of the proposedsolution. (Kant & Kerr, 2019). Educational programs are charged with identifying knowledgeprogressions and skill development as part of a culture of continuous improvement. Pedagogicalpractices should use a variety of educational experiences and methods to engage and motivate,and to enable a diverse pool of learners to develop hard and soft skills that are transferable toreal-world contexts. Educational systems must challenge and reframe practices
curriculum of an online engineering technical managementprogram for working professionals in the College of Engineering at a Tier One researchuniversity. In a time filled with constant changes and uncertainty, there is a rising trend thatbesides technical knowledge, hiring companies are looking more at the soft skills possessed bycandidates in engineering or engineering-related industries; skills like communication,leadership, critical thinking, stress/pressure management, etc. are among the many needed orrequired lists [1], [2], [3]. Universities, answering to the market demands, are offeringcommunication courses in engineering majors. However, much research has been focused on thedesign of communication curricula in engineering education for full
recent high school graduates withhigh need enrolled in ECS. Objective 2: The necessary academic and student support serviceswill be provided to NSF Scholars to achieve a high cohort persistence through transfer rate to 4-year Engineering and Computer Science programs. Objective 3: Activities will be increased, incomparison to past grants, to develop the soft skills necessary to thrive in the fields chosen, gainconfidence, and succeed in furthering employment experience through internships. Activities andinterventions will be adjusted based on success and student surveys.The increased emphasis on soft skills and advancing our understanding of how the interventionsand co-curricular activities affect the success, retention, transfer, academic
primarily concentrated on new development, so this is a very under-represented aspect of the life cycle. Managing the resources and assets allocated to perform SE activities. Activities Systems include planning, assessment and control, risk management, measurement, Engineering decision management, configuration management, information management, and Management quality management. These activities can occur at any point in the systems engineering lifecycle.ToolsThis classification refers to both the logical and physical tools required to design, analyze, andmanage systems engineering activities, and the soft skills desired from a candidate. Toolsidentified are used for designing, and developing new processes
was a challenge for the instructor/sponsors tofully connect with students. On-site visits with the healthcare organization were not possible.Despite the various distance technologies that are available, we feel it is difficult to reproduce thein-person student experience. Without interpersonal interaction, many of the soft skills are oftennot fully experienced by the students learning to conduct team-based senior design project viadistance settings.ConclusionsThe community-focused design project was different than a typical engineering senior designproject that focuses mostly on technical skills. The community-focused design project discussedin this paper focused on the technical skills as well as many soft skills such as communicationboth
faculty have mentionedinclude: • Thinking about building systems as a whole, instead of individual systems • Different design strategies that can be used to create a net-zero building • Education on building science and construction • Real world operations and how to apply theoretical knowledge.Participating in a team-oriented project also allows students to build their soft skills. Here are someways that our students and faculty have said they have grown with the Solar Decathlon: • How to sell a story • Learning how to get architecture and engineering students to work together • Increasing their ability for proactive planning and research • Growing their own agency and confidence • Finding external partners
ResearchFoundation, National Electrical Contractors Association, Associated Builders and Contractors,National Constructors Association, and American Road Builders Association.Construction programs are often influenced by their development and history. Programs thatoriginated from architecture or engineering often carry a design-heavy structure, while programswith industrial technology backgrounds include more hands-on applications [6, 7]. The industry'sexpectations also play an essential role in shaping the educational content, including thetechnical, managerial, and soft skills [8-11]. In 1998, Rosso conducted a study to review thecurrent status of four-year construction education programs and highlighted the evolvingapproaches and the distinct programs of
instruction in Fall 2021, butclassroom activities needed to be redesigned to take masking and social distancing into account.The activities implemented in the course have been used successfully with several groups ofstudents and their evolution benefited from feedback provided by the students and faculty [1],[3].This paper describes the authors’ experiences using active learning materials adapted for socialdistancing in a software engineering course. Depending on their Covid vaccination status,students attended either the in-person, socially distanced class meetings or exclusively online.The authors wanted to provide opportunities for online students to develop soft skills on teamprojects by encouraging them to participate virtually in reflection
Explainer Video Competition whileunderrepresented in the Autonomous Robot Competition. The Autonomous Robot Competitionrewards technical performance, while the other two competitions rely on excelling in bothtechnical and professional skills. This finding supports the hypothesis that female engineeringstudents value professional skills or “soft-skills” more than their male counterparts [19].Entrepreneurial thinking course competitions seem to attract more female students and may behelpful to encourage and retain women in engineering programs.Since the competition is part of a class and not external, students that might be distracted bycompetitions, focused on their coursework since they are aligned. Most students improved theirGPA during the
put it beyond the reachof anyone who isn’t very wealthy?”, “How can I balance my obligations to society when theyseem to conflict with the interests of the company funding my project?”. Consequently,education, when designed to prepare students for the real world must also prepare them todevelop their social awareness and abilities and acquire a clear sense of professional values inorder to develop and to sustain successful, healthy relationships with those with whom they workand with those they seek to serve. Unfortunately, such “soft skills” are often given short shrift in the undergraduate curriculum[3]. As a 2015 study by Garibay suggests, it seems that within engineering and related fields, thisstrong focus on technical knowledge, and
. (Quan) Do you believe these assumptions exist? 4.The assumption that women in engineering are an exception and not the norm. Likert Scale: 1-Definitely Not 5.The assumption that in engineering ‘‘soft skills’’ (e.g., 2-Probably Not communication, teamwork) are under-valued. 3- Possibly 4-Very Probably 6. The assumption that diversity in engineering is under- 5- Definitely Yes valued. Participants were asked to watch a 7.5-minute video, which Video highlighted
participating with their facultymentors and to encourage the use of ePortfolios. Individual students work will with their facultymentors the create an Individual Education and Development Plan (IEDP) that provides a maptoward graduation and career [18], [19]. IEDPs will include the purpose and sequence of HIPs inwhich students participate. If students have a clearer idea of which soft skills they wish todevelop – such as problem solving and critical thinking, oral and written communication, teamwork, ethical perspective, leadership, emotional intelligence etc. [20], [21] – they could morepurposefully plan and engage in HIPs.In addition, ePortfolios could provide a useful way to strengthen the collective impact of theHIPs. In ePortfolios, students can
workforcedemands. Technological change, global competition, and the pandemic have combined to usherin and hasten the era of shop-floor digitalization and automation of manufacturing. Combinedwith a growing "silver tsunami” retirement and “Great Resignation” of skilled workers and thelack of a curricular emphasis on applied learning in some sectors [1] and we have now reachedcrisis level in a much-reduced pool of highly skilled, manufacturing-ready engineers available tomanufacturers.In addition to technical aptitude, there is growing demand from industry for engineeringgraduates to be equipped with professional or “soft” skills and abilities [1], [2]. “Moreover,engineers have recently begun to incorporate considerations such as sustainability