Conference Session

The Value of Interpersonal Skills Training in Engineering Education: An Interactive Panel Discussion with the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Futures Program

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katy Luchini-Colbry, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

process. On the advice of the LEES program chairperson for 2016, I amre-submitting the abstract (below) along with this explanatory note. The Value of Interpersonal Skills Training in Engineering Education: An Interactive Panel Discussion with the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Futures ProgramFor more than two decades, the Engineering Futures Program of Tau Beta Pi (the EngineeringHonor Society) has provided engineering students with training in the “soft skills” necessary forsuccess in the workplace. Engineering Futures (EF) seminars cover interpersonalcommunications skills; team building and management techniques; creative problem solving;and effective presentation skills. The EF program won the 2007 Excellence in EngineeringEducation

Conference Session

Trends in Accreditation and Assessment

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Atsushi Akera, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

there may besome questions as to whether all of the relevant constituencies were consulted, the task force amassedthrough this process no less than 75 recommended additions to Criterion 3. Its analysis of evaluationoutcomes meanwhile suggested not only that the struggles over meeting the many outcomes—especiallythose associated with the so-called “soft skills”—were not only hindering innovation, but producinginconsistencies in evaluation outcomes. While the following is speculative, it seems plausible that it wasin recognizing the impossibility of incorporating the recommended additions to Criterion 3 that TF-3considered the radical alternative of reducing the number of learning outcomes, specifically to allowprograms to experiment with the

Conference Session

Assessing Literacies in Engineering Education

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Leslie, New York University Tandon School of Engineering ; Lindsay Anderberg, New York University Tandon School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

learning outcomes thatwill persist beyond the classroom into the engineering workforce.Surveys of engineering faculty, students, graduates, and employers have sought to measure theimpact of Criterion 3: Student Outcomes.2 A 2006 study showed positive improvements since theadoption of Criterion 3, which enumerates some soft skills such as problem solving, teamwork,communication, and life-long learning. Engineering faculty were more likely to engage studentsin active learning, graduates rated their ability to apply engineering skills and to understandsocial context as higher, and employers ranked these skills as important.3 It would seem that, forABET at least, the goals of a liberal education and an engineering education are not so

Conference Session

Pedagogies of Making and Design

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Geetanjali R. Date, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; Sanjay Chandrasekharan, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

courses in Sustainability, Humanitiesand Social Sciences, Ethics, as well as soft skills such as writing, communication and teamwork.7,8,9 Strategies for pedagogical reforms included cornerstone and capstone courses, projectand problem-based learning, active participatory learning opportunities, instructionallaboratories, learning a second language, and foreign country internships.10,11,12,13Nevertheless, most engineering education programs continue to emphasize the technical aspects,while the social and environmental aspects remain externalized.14 Barbara Olds15 notes that “theeducation of science and engineering students has for too long been merely “technical”, oftenneglecting human complexity in order to achieve quantifiable correctness