Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert L. Green

engineeringstudies that address the "soft skills" of listening, teamwork and leadership.Listening SkillsMost engineers have some form of engineering management responsibility. Published lists ofskills important for the technical manager always include "communication" and all gooddefinitions of communication include "listening." Listening is also one of the key characteristicsof effective leaders. Bennett (1996) states that "Like most skills, good listening can be studiedand learned. Americans tend to speak at about 150 words per minute; we are capable oflistening to about 1000 words per minute. Is that 85% idle time spent in reviewing andassimilating what has been said, developing an argumentative rebuttal or brilliant reply, orthinking about an unrelated

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark Tufenkjian

model for discussion is a summer internship program developed by anew engineering educator for the Civil Engineering Department at California State University,Los Angeles. A flowchart illustrating the sequencing of internship activities and a description ofthe program materials is presented. The paper also explores the benefits of developing such aprogram for a tenure-track professor.IntroductionMost will agree that internships provide students with the opportunity to gain practical workexperience, enhance their chances of academic success, advance their professional qualifications(including soft skills), and provide a competitive edge during their job search. The author’s ownpersonal experience as an intern was a defining moment as an

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Kevin Schmaltz; Morrie Walworth; Ajay Mahajan; David McDonald

laboratory exercises. The 1997-98 team– Mark Blair, Andrew Valentine, Dan Flannery, Ricky Groenewoud, NathanLangmesser, and Daniel Gunasekaran, and the 1998-98 team – Mike Boks, BobbyDemaray, John Hebert, Dan Munn, Tim Robbins, Jeremy Roberts, and Nick Wiegand.References:1. Mahajan,A., Walworth, M. and McDonald, D., "An Innovative Vertically Integrated Learning Environment," Proceedings of the ASEE NCS ’98 Conference, Detroit, 1998.2. McDonald, D., Mahajan, A., and Walworth, M., "Development of an Innovative Integrated Learning Environment for Laboratory Instruction in Engineering," NSF-ILI Grant , #DUE971372, National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.3. Duesing, P., Devaprasad, D., Mahajan, A., McDonald, D., "Integrating Soft

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Nagy N. Bengiamin

coherent and enthusiastic faculty body.Ä Assessment of soft-skills requires conservative thinking to facilitate a meaningful assessment tool. For example, outcome (i) states “graduates should have a recognition of the need for, and are able to engage in life-long learning.” To assess this outcome, the EE faculty at UND decided to demonstrate that students have been successfully exposed to activities within their academic program that would enhance their life-long learning skills. Student work demonstrated interest and ability to seek and grasp new knowledge. Critical thinking and open-ended problem solving skills are considered directly relevant to student ability to engage in life-long learning.Ä It is easy to overburden

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Sal Arnaldo

suggestions and examples are offered.Particular attention is given to incorporating these concepts within problem solvingmethodology.I. IntroductionThe average workday of a civil engineer requires the use of “soft skills” (non-technical skills)9.Many students will assume managerial duties early (10 years or less) into their career1. Manysituations in professional life (in the both management and technical aspects) require theapplication of ethical principles.According to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), criteria forengineering programs in the United States must introduce students to the ethical, social,economic, and safety issues that arise from the practice of engineering. Newly proposed ABETcriteria for the 21st

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

John Pongo; Barrie W. Jackson

on the design of their presentationmaterial.Although few of our graduates will find employment as career design individuals, the technicaland “soft” skills that are enhanced by the TEAM experience will give our students an excellentstart as emerging professionals.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe could not even consider such a venture as TEAM without a major commitment of supportfrom our industrial colleagues. Organizations such as DuPont Canada and Fluor Daniel supportus by providing advisors for the student teams. Of major importance is the establishment of aclient base that provides the students with their projects. These clients expect value for themoney and time that they invest in the program, and they must be prepared to work with thestudents as

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Alexander N. Cartwright

. 2. To teach students to work in team-oriented environments. 3. To emphasize and improve the students soft-skills (report writing and presentations) for reporting of progress on projects. 4. To teach the specific concepts for the course, i.e., a student should have some technical knowledge of lasers after completing the Introduction to Lasers course. 5. To teach students how to use technology to improve learning.In summary, this learning environment focuses on shifting the burden of the learning effort to thestudent. The student feels that they are part of the process and, therefore, feel some obligation toprepare for the course. This sense of obligation is imposed by both their fellow group membersand by

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Gary P. Langenfeld; David Wells

capitalize upon this very basic notion. When properly done, formal education provides the fundamental knowledge critical toengineering, in general, and to a specific engineering discipline. Further, the best formalcurricula will assure that foundational skills for continuous investigation and experimentationare mastered. The challenge in formal education is to achieve the objectives of fundamentalscientific knowledge, plus its application in the workplace, plus broad understanding of theselected engineering discipline, plus in-depth mastery of at least one engineering specialty, pluscross-discipline learning and depth in the ‘soft skills’, plus developed capacity for continuinglearning. A formidable task, to be sure, but the task nonetheless. The

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Brian Manhire; Roman Z. Morawski; Andrzej Krasniewski

happens quite frequently that for a particular subject, the lecture and tutorials are run in one semester and the laboratory or the project in the next semester; besides, even if a particular subject area is completely covered in one semester, separate grades are given for the theoretical knowledge part (exam grade) and skills development part (lab or project grade);• insufficient integration of the content within course sequences – unnecessary redundancy and insufficient coverage of some areas;• insufficient level of training in personal (transferable, soft) skills, in particular in teamwork, technical communication (both written and oral), self-development, leadership, etc.• insufficient level of training in