argues that professional education should be centred on enhancing thepractitioner’s ability for ‘reflection-in-action’ to create new knowledge (Schön 1983). It isthat process that allows us to reshape what we are working on, while we are working on it.Engineers are described as technology workers. The engineers that Schön describes are seenonly as inventors dealing with technology issues, and he may have overlooked most elementsof professional engineering work such as organization of people to produce useful productsand services.Zussman (1985) combines detailed observations of organizations both in advanced and oldindustrial settings with intensive interviews of American engineers within those organizations.He observed that engineers believe
incorporated international or liberal artscourses into their curriculum. Lastly, participation in RSAP also impacted future career goalsand broader ideas about what it means to be a ‘global engineer’. As one student explained, “themain thing I’ve noticed [after the program] is I have considered more employment abroad…Iwould not have done that otherwise.” Students also expressed a strong awareness of the globalaspects of engineering as they reflected on their disciplines. As one student described, “it’s justanother day in the office when you are talking to people in India and getting items fromShanghai. You definitely need to be open to it and know not to be afraid to interact with othercultures…you just never when it’s going to pop up, you just have
was developed into a 1 to 2 hour lectureincluding power point slides, notes and student assignments. As materials for each lecture werecompleted, they underwent a review process with engineering faculty. This ensured correctengineering principles and GV team principle links to engineering. Any revisions needed weremade prior to the lecture being presented.Student assignments and assessments reflected use of course content on the GV Team. Forexample, an initial assignment required students to create an On-line personal profile. Thisincluded a picture, student experience, expertise and other information that enabled students toget to know teammates. This was followed up with a five-minute phone call where studentspaired with international to
to almost every question we asked always concluded with you must be able to write and communicate properly with others if you want to keep your job.” o “Our findings also reflected the previous CIW report indicating that oral and written communication were part of the employees’ job performance appraisals. The communication process was also considered to be an integral part of every activity in the workplace, as found in the last CIW report.” o “Each representative could not stress enough how important communication is in the workplace and how being able to communicate properly is one of the most valuable assets an
seemed better able to capture the essence of the experience. These non-traditional assignments were created as a means to challenge the students’ thought processeswhile effectively communicating the experience. Reflection, analysis, and critical thinking werecomponents necessary to complete each assignment.Open-form EssayEssays generally come in 2 forms: open- and closed-form essays.9 Closed-form essays are thesis-driven essays in which there is a conventional format. Examples of these essays include thetypical researched arguments that are usually found in any writing course, as well as technicalreports, which have their own formal requirements. Open-form essays are very different. Ratherthan seeking to prove a known and researched thesis, an
solutionswere required. Students identified and adopted useful vocabulary and grammar structures, usingthese to design and deliver a group presentation which addressed an international engineeringconcern. • Foundations of leadership and leadership theory. • Leadership strengths assessment and explored how strengths uniquely empower the students a leader. • Exploration of students’ native culture using Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions [5] and compared against other cultures. o Included oral presentation regarding similarities and differences between cultures, expected business etiquette, potential team dynamics. • Reflection of individual values as a person and robustly engaged in discussions
Module 2 were reported previously [4] and were slightly modified (based on both faculty andstudents’ feedback) for the second offering of the program. The critical aspects of Module 2 arebriefly reported here for completeness and a summary of the students’ reflection essays of thismodule are presented in Appendix 1. The rest of the paper focuses on Module 3 that concentrateson the Application of the UN SDGs through Drawdown.3.1 Learning objectives of the course:At the conclusion of this program, students should be able to: • Describe how the UN SDGs relate to Peru; Apply intercultural knowledge in communication scenarios connected to the Strategic Vision and Themes of Peru, and the US National Academies’ Grand Engineering
in developing and implementing the hands-on learning activities into the first-year yearprogram. Riggins had participated in these activities as a freshman at Virginia Tech.This paper summarizes: (i) workshop content, (ii) feedback from workshop participants, and (iii)reflections of two American students (one PhD student and another undergraduate student) whotravelled to India for the first time.Workshop Schedule and ActivitiesThe activities presented at the workshop have been developed and implemented at VirginiaTech’s freshman engineering program and are supported by two NSF projects. These activitieshave been reported in various conference and journal publications. A brief description of theNSF projects along with the activities follow.A
resources outside of the college. Reflections on the experiences andlearning gained in the development and implementation of the experiences, programs, andhoped-for college-wide system are presented. These reflections are generalized to be lessons-learned that could apply to other institutions working to build their international programs and toachieve integrating global competence into the curriculum.IntroductionLike many institutions across the country, the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering andTechnology at BYU has embarked on development of experiences and programs related to theobjective of achieving global competence in our engineering and technology students. Theseinitiatives, aimed at global competence, have occurred in parallel with
toget to know each other. This assignment helps to jump start the GV team experience as studentsare compelled to plan and to get to know one another. Learning new technology also becomesimportant for team members to communicate and share documents with one another. While thetendency is to focus on the task, team members must take the time to develop on-linerelationships with team members they likely will never meet outside of this project. Thisrelationship building becomes critical as the project proceeds and team members requireassistance and support from one another during stressful and critical times. It also increasesstudent commitment to the GV team project. Upon completion of the course students should reflect on what they have
,education.1 Technical skills are no longer sufficient to be prepared as a professional engineer.Twenty-first-century engineers must also now possess well-honed communication skills and thedisposition to fully engage and participate in global workforces. The necessity for engineers towork across cultures and disciplines has been increasingly spotlighted by engineeringprofessional and educational communities as reflected in recent national reports, conferences,and publications.2 The American Society of Mechanical Engineers brought to light acontemporary reality: “The economics of nations are becoming increasingly interconnected. Information technology and knowledge cross borders through international telecommunications and online
crosscultural training include meeting participant and program objectives and providing reflective learning opportunities where participants can engage in, comprehend, 4,5and appreciate cultural differences . Of relevance to this study, required crosscultural training components which have been cited include general and countryspecific cultural awareness, frameworks for understanding and valuing cultural differences, and business and social customs 3in other countries . In recent years, a common understanding has risen that today’s university graduates require some level of
with increasedglobal preparedness. Further, students’ performance on the instruments was found to becorrelated with particular programmatic elements of the experiences such as duration of studyabroad, the number of non-engineering courses students took with global foci, number of timestraveled abroad, and the amount of student reflection that occurred during or after travellingabroad. The study broadens the knowledge base about contextual factors associated withengineering global preparedness.IntroductionThe engineering workplace is becoming increasingly multinational because of technologicaladvances and global economic integration. Companies now seek graduates who are able towork in multinational teams that may cross temporal, geographical
satisfaction in helping them get their needsmet. It is also argued that when the teacher is able to focus on assisting the students inmeeting their needs, teacher’s own needs get met. In concluding, the author presents hisown reflections based on his experience as an engineering student and a faculty member.The author has a firm conviction that the only professor who belongs in a classroom is acaring professor.IntroductionA caring faculty understands, encourages and supports students’ individuality and issensitive to students’ needs. A caring faculty understands that the concept ofindividuality manifests itself in- among other things- different learning styles, visions,interests, and aspirations. In addition, a caring college faculty realizes that
opportunitiesguaranteeing stimulating lifelong career-development opportunities. These benchmarks forsuccess include: “an ability to learn how to learn, an ability to form learning communities,and an ability to collaborate in distributed corporate settings, across countries, continents andcultures”[3].Universities attempt to capture the demand for the new skillset by revising and extending theexistent intended learning outcomes (ILOs) to include references to the meta-competencies.Biggs and Tang[5] note that the most effective ILOs will challenge students to go further than‘solve’ or ‘explain’, asking instead to ‘apply to professional practice’, ‘hypothesise’,‘reflect’, even ‘relate to principles’, in short to demonstrate the so-called higher-orderthinking skills
: “Intercultural competence describes the ability to effectively and adequately in- teract in intercultural situations based on explicit attitudes as well as the special ability to act and reflect.” 1 (own translation)Looking into Deardorff’s work shows that by ‘explicit attitudes’ the author broadly under-stands, inter alia, a positive motivation for acting in intercultural situations, an appreciationfor cultural diversity, a curiosity towards foreign people, and tolerance for ambiguity in newsituations. Moreover, this definition clearly states, that intercultural competence can only beshown in intercultural situations. Consequently, this means, it only can be development incorresponding learning situations. The developed course should serve as
and reflect ontheir IREE experiences, (2) allow professional and social network opportunities among theparticipants, and (3) assess the challenges and opportunities faced by the program participants.At the IREE re-entry meeting, individual hour-long interviews and two-hour thematic focusgroups were conducted with 56 participants.For the scope of this paper, we present and discuss select focus group and interview data relatedto three different themes: (1) gender differences, (2) second generation Chinese immigrants, and(3) African and Hispanic Americans. Preliminary data analysis reveals some of the unique issuesfaced by each student population, as well as some of the cultural images encountered inside andoutside of various cultural
Return to United StatesPre-travel IntensiveOne key aspect of the pre-travel course work was to acknowledge the “American and Purduecultures” and gain perspective on the culture of Greece and specifically the Island of Crete.Native Greek faculty gave presentations on current social, political, educational, and businesssystems; the impact of history on culture and technological development; and provide someinsights as to local cuisine, language, and geography. Students were challenged tocompare/contrast Purdue and United States cultures to Greek culture.Each student was required to maintain a hard copy journal, as well as an on-line journal (Wiki-based) to articulate, reflect on, and synthesize their experiences throughout the four weeks. Thiswas
-tensive experiences and well-tuned infrastructures in place to facilitate outgoing and incominginternational students, scholars, and faculty members. This includes dedicated staffs to facili-tate travel briefing, second language training, housing, visa application and processing, socialintegration, and student advising and counseling.12 Evaluation planThe assessment planned reflects both the goals of the program and good practice, beginningwith the alignment of assessment strategies and outcomes. Direct methods will provide oppor-tunities for students to demonstrate their achievements; indirect methods will provide evidenceof students’ and others’ perceptions of students’ achievements. Where possible, assessmentwill be embedded in coursework, and
, organizing and completing theseprojects from the perspective of faculty advisors (each of the co-authors has served as facultyadvisor in one or more international projects). Three projects are described with faculty advisorsproviding insights on project team development and organization, travel coordination issues,project delivery, and personal reflections of the benefits and detriments observed during and afterproject participation. Finally, the paper provides some concluding remarks on how internationalprojects can be more successful as a result of improved advising.Project 1: Kwabeng, Ghana - Schistosomiasis Control in a Community Impacted bySurface Gold-MiningBrief Project Description:Between 30-40% of the children attending elementary school in
process but that don’t travel to the chapters partner community inEl Salvador, and those that are involved in the design process on campus and also travel to work with thecommunity.Currently, this project is attempting to understand the different instruments available to investigatestudent’s global competency and preparedness to work globally and how to measure and understand thedifferent models used in these six different groups. This paper will expand upon and reflect upon differentoptions for the project.Global engineering competencyIn engineering, global engineering competency can be seen as inhabiting three dimensions of technical,professional and global domains which contain the skills and attributes of a globally competent,professional
of the US professors and/oradministrators by the students. Each situation was reviewed individually to determine ifassignment extensions or other interventions were needed so not to penalize the student.Findings and Opportunities for Future Program OfferingPrevious literary works, as described above, provide rich description of challenges andopportunities for future consideration when implementing programs in Africa, as well as anyother country outside of the United States. These prior documented findings, coupled withextensive student surveys provide an enhanced perspective on future challenges.Below highlights the many opportunities for improvement and consideration.After reflecting over the past several years, there have been many
Engineering Global Centrism Engineering Global Prep6.0 DiscussionThe results of this study, which furthers initial results reported in a previous conference paper[25], indicate that the NanoJapan students made sizable gains on all of the EGPI subscales, butonly differences on the Engineering Ethics and Humanity subscale were statistically significant. .The difference between groups may reinforce the importance of aspects of the NanoJapanprogram that encourage students to reflect on culture differences between the US and Japan,which they were of course experiencing daily as part of their research assignments. This findingsuggests that international experiences that combine intensive language and culture instruction,hands-on, cutting-edge research
study is reflective of the overall proportion of female students (21%) inthe college of engineering where the study was undertaken. Moreover, we were focused onprioritizing a broad representation of countries in the selection of participants.Data CollectionData were collected using an interview protocol after it was piloted and approved by the IRB.The interview protocol was developed using Vygotsky [8] sociocultural theoretical framework asa reference and enabled us to conduct semi-structured interviews with 10 first-year internationalstudents during the first semester (Fall) of the academic year 2018-2019. The semi-structuredinterviews asked specific questions guided by prompts upon which the richness of the interviewwas heavily dependent [20
environmentsUndergraduate Students Ranged from 1 month - 1 Interviews 11 year abroadUndergraduate Students Ranged from 1 month - 1 Reflection Statements 36 year abroadThe MIT faculty interviewed represented all the schools at MIT (engineering, science,architecture, and humanities and social sciences) and various departments. In addition torepresenting several disciplines, the faculty were leaders of MIT international initiatives ineducation and for a program that provides international study abroad opportunities forundergraduate students. This program partners with corporations to provide students with global
society is living in the 21st. Century. It is theapplication of Science to help society to reach the goal of achieving the same level ofdevelopment as the technological.Much of the objects we interact with during a typical day are the result of an engineered process- from the alarm clock to our car, the Internet, through television, the streets and buildings andeven the clothes we wear. All these objects so prosaic are the result of human ingenuity,personified in the professional engineer. All these objects came after weeks of reflection andnights, months or years of experiments, testing, developments and improvements, deep momentsof sublime technique and passion, until they were ready to serve the man.In according to the economic theory, this is
diary, it may containcomments about your personal feelings, mostly your journal will be focused on your process of encountering andcoming to understand Norwegian and Swedish society and the role of energy and sustainability in their societies. Ittrains you to be observant. It records what you observed and what you think it means. Submittal and Review: Journals will be collected and reviewed by your instructors as shown on theitinerary. Suggestions for improvement will be made as needed. Journals will be submitted along with the finalterm paper before the end of summer school and assessed as part of the faculty’s assessment of the student’s workfor the course.In addition, the instructors facilitate post-course reflection for the
expectations for global educational experiences hasbegotten a lack of common assessment instruments and strategies. However, there are notableexceptions. For example, administrators at Purdue and many other institutions are using theIntercultural Development Inventory (IDI).18,21,22,23 The IDI is standardized, validated, and has along history of use, making it easy to administer and suitable for comparative research. But whileIDI may allow measurement of cross-cultural sensitivity in general, this proprietary instrument iscostly, not readily modifiable, and not specifically tailored to global practice in technical fields.Hahn et al. have used multiple assessment methods, including self-reflection writing, oralpresentation, and interviews, to assess
their own understanding and knowledge and be able to present it clearly andcoherently to others. They change from “passive recipients of information to active controllersof learning”.2 All teaching assistants who responded to a survey (see the Appendix for asummary of the survey results) asking them to reflect upon this role stated that being a teachingassistant has affected their view of the educational process. One teaching assistant wrote, Page 13.487.3“[t]eaching the same material for some time gives you a better idea of what are the commonpitfalls and misunderstanding that will occur when students are learning the new material andyou can
realities. There were conflicting views and opinions andthe culture of the way thing was done was important and impinged upon manyaspects of this research. In order to reflect these diverse views twenty individualinterviews and a focus group interview took place. Interviewees represented all of themajor stakeholders affected by academic change including students, technical staff,central services and all levels of academic staff up to and including the Dean of theengineering college and the President of the university. The intention was to consultwith and collaborate with stakeholders about what was happening at this time ofunprecedented change. Fourth Generation Evaluation as described by Guba &Lincoln6 was used. This seeks to address the