Conference Session

Programmatic Integration of Liberal Education

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Michael Oudshoorn, High Point University; Claire Lynne McCullough P.E., High Point University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

and flavor of the institution. However, senior academic leadership rec-ognized that securing employment in a liberal arts discipline after graduation can be a challengeand that potential students and parents are looking for degrees in areas that will lead to long-term,secure employment. Furthermore, these potential students and parents want high-paying jobs postgraduation to provide a worthwhile return on their investment [2], [3] in terms of tuition dollarsand time spent earning the degree. There was no disagreement amongst faculty that a liberal artseducations is valuable and provides skills, particularly professional or soft skills, that employersare seeking [4].2.2 Accreditation RequirementsABET accreditation requirements for engineering

Conference Session

Technical Courses and Liberal Education

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Kenneth W. Van Treuren, Baylor University; William M. Jordan, Baylor University; Cynthia C. Fry, Baylor University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

views. They are less likely to trust the government, get involved, or even follow the news.Engineering and iGensWhile much has been published regarding iGens in general regarding their preparation andattitude toward college, there is very little available that isolates those students choosing to studyengineering or computer science.Industry tells us new hire engineering students lack the social and essential skills (sometimesreferred to as soft skills) to be successful [10]. Technology has become an impediment todeveloping interpersonal relationships and people skills. iGens would rather communicatethrough technology than in person, a frustration to industry managers, especially when thecommunication concerns conflict. A KRONOS Workforce

Conference Session

Relationships Between Skills and Knowledge Domains

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Zhen Zhao, Arizona State University; Samantha Ruth Brunhaver, Arizona State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

encounter in the industry, and Nabi and Bagley[12] suggested that career advisors could do more to foster students’ appreciation for theimportance of communication skills in finding a job.Several studies have looked at both engineering students’ self-efficacy and perceptions ofimportance related to communication skills, albeit separately [6,9-10,12]. Direito et al. [9] andNabi and Bagley [12] asked engineering students and recent graduates to rate their proficiencyand perceived importance related to a variety of technical and professional skills. Itani and Srour[10] asked engineering students to report their ability of certain soft skills and their perceivedimportance on these skills to determine a career choice. All three studies noted a skills

Conference Session

Technical Courses and Liberal Education

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Dianne Grayce Hendricks, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

professional skills. And althoughsome students recognize that effective communication skills are required for professionalsuccess, we observe that most engineering students enter our Introduction to TechnicalCommunication course with little understanding -- but a strong negative impression -- oftechnical communication. Many students think of technical communication as a “soft skill”rather than a technical or professional skill.Here, we describe our experience using short written reflection assignments to scaffold a majorpresentation assignment in an Introduction to Technical Communication course that is requiredby most majors in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. Our aim is tomake teaching presentation skills more manageable