Conference Session

Global Engineering in an Interconnected World

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Pedro Gazmuri, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; Gonzalo Pizarro, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; Jose Bilbao, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

Tagged Divisions

International

personal study). Ten credits or units in this scale 3correspond to approximately three units in the USA scale. Practically every course requires 10credits, and the average workload of a student is 55 credits on any one semester.At the end of the fourth year, students must take a written exam, which is equivalent to theFundamentals of Engineering exam in the USA. Those who pass the exam earn the degree of“Licenciado en Ciencias de la Ingeniería”. This degree does not license them for professionalwork, but allows them to enter directly to graduate programs (Master and Doctor). Additionally,starting their fifth year in their career, students can

Conference Session

Preparing Engineering Students for International Practice

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alan Parkinson, Brigham Young University

Tagged Divisions

International

but do notprovide an in-depth exposure to the culture.Internship or Co-opStudents work abroad at a foreign company or at an international branch of a U.S. company. Thistype of experience can be quite different from other study abroad formats. An internship is oftenless structured than coursework yet can include a lot of informal learning, particularly regardingbusiness issues involving teamwork, communication, design, manufacturing, etc. Internships arelabor-intensive to arrange.Mentored TravelUnder the guidance of a faculty member, students travel to the abroad country and study and/ortour for four or more weeks. Students stay together as a group. Many traditional study abroadprograms would be of this type. This type of program may provide a

Conference Session

Engineering Education in the Arab World / Mid-East Region

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Waddah Akili, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

International

”, “care” and “knowledge of subject matter” show up almost on everyone’slist of the qualities of a good teacher; but it is becoming increasingly clear that effective teachersdo possess some basic understanding of the learning process (i.e., they are able to make theconnections between what students already know and what we want them to learn).(11)In the Arab Gulf States, young faculty (recent graduates with PhDs) who decide to get intoteaching, and embark on it with hardly any prior preparation or training, except perhaps whenthey served as TA’s in a couple of classes (when they were graduate students), have faced somedisappointments. They have found themselves, often, unable to cope, and many have begun toview teaching as an unpleasant “chore

Conference Session

International Distance & Service Learning for Engineers- Discussion on Best Practices

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sandra Boschetto-Sandoval, Michigan Technological University; Ciro Sandoval, Michigan Technological University; Linda Phillips, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

International

affective as well as effective cultural mediators andambassadors, students acquire an understanding of how a language other than their ownproduces and distributes knowledge within socio-cultural communicative frameworks.As we learned in the spring of 2006, the piloting of a unique collaboration between Civiland Environmental Engineering and Humanities provided a forum for generating furtherreflection on the benefits of cross-disciplinary efforts for both students and faculty. Wediscovered, for example, that cross-disciplinary literacy as a framework for advancinglanguage acquisition and engineering service learning also encouraged language andnon-engineering students to integrate an international field experience into theireducational career goals