Conference Session

Entrepreneurism in BME

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Wendy Newstetter; Paul Benkeser

Integrating Soft Skills in a BME Curriculum Paul Benkeser and Wendy Newstetter Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory UniversityAbstractABET’s Criterion 3 requires engineering programs to demonstrate that its graduates possess anumber of “soft” skills related to the practice of engineering. These include skills related toteamwork, communications, professionalism, ethics, life-long learning, impact of engineeringsolutions, and knowledge of contemporary issues. Too often programs seek to satisfy thiscriterion through what might be called an “inoculation” approach, i.e. giving students a dose ofethics

Conference Session

New Ideas in Energy Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Timothy Skvarenina

Session 2533 Incorporating ABET “Soft Skills” into Energy Conversion Courses Timothy L. Skvarenina School of Technology, Purdue UniversityAbstractBoth the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) and the Technology Accreditation Commission(TAC) of ABET have adopted outcome-based evaluation criteria. The EAC began the process withearly visits in 1997. TAC began later with the adoption of its Technology Criteria 2000, or TC2K, andconducted its pilot visits in 2001, with full implementation in 2004. In both

Conference Session

Best Zone Papers

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Margaret Pinnell; Leon Chuck

Session 1601 Developing Technical Competency and Enhancing the Soft Skills of Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students through Service-Learning Margaret F. Pinnell, Ph. D., Leon Chuck University of DaytonAbstract: New ABET requirements have encouraged engineering faculty to help students develop“soft skills.” Among these soft skills includes the ability to work in teams and communicateeffectively, appreciation of different cultures and business practices, understanding the globalnature of business and engineering and understanding the societal, economic and

Conference Session

Nontechnical Skills for Engineering Technology Students

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

George Zion; Ronald Fulle; Carol Richardson

Session Number: 1348 Building Ethics and Project Management into Engineering Technology Programs Authors: Ron Fulle, Carol Richardson, George Zion Affiliation of All: Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)AbstractOur Industry Advisory Board (IAB) strongly suggested that we include more managerial skills inthe Engineering Technology curriculum. Revised ABET criteria now require such skills. Ourprograms were already so long that they adversely impact student retention. The dilemma washow to implement more so called “soft skills” without adding more hours to the

Collection

2004 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

John Mirth

Teamworking 28 (7.4%) 34 (6.7%) 23 (4.7%) 9 (3.7%) 94 5.8 “Soft” Skills Project planning and design 44% 62 (16%) 58 (11%) 30 (6.1%) 19 (7.8%) 169 10 process Societal issues 72 (19%) 26 (5.1%) 30 (6.1%) 34 (14%) 162 10 Ethics, Safety, and 1 (0.3%) 22 (4.3%) 23 (4.7%) 6 (2.5%) 52 3.2 Professional practice

Conference Session

Exploring New Frontiers in Manufacturing Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Beverly Davis

Paper 2004-51 The Recognition of and Increasing Value of Professional Engineering Skills Beverly Davis Purdue UniversityAbstractStudies by EAC/ABET have identified skill gaps engineers and engineering technologistslack upon graduation. Some of the skills identified were project management, teamwork,engineering economics, organizational behavior, decision-making, andcommunications12. Hundreds of ASEE conference attendees, in 2003, listened to keynotespeaker, Shirley Jackson, discuss the increased importance of “soft skill” education forengineers today. Dr

Conference Session

Diversity: Women and Minorities in Engineering Technology

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Julie Phillips; Joseph Fuehne

mature as those of the PRIME coalition.The Learning with LEGOs workshop also uses LEGOs to introduce technology and developskills such as measuring distances in both the English and metric unit systems while employingsimple math skills. In addition, an exercise emphasizing people or soft skills is also included.Engineering technology accreditation as defined by the Technology Accreditation Commission(TAC) of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) emphasizesteamwork in their Technology Accreditation 2000 criteria6. Additionally, most industrialorganizations now require employees to work in cross-functional teams, whose effectivenessdepends on soft skills and teamwork. This team-building exercise will be used at the

Conference Session

Industrial-Sponsored Design

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Monte Tull; Gerald Crain

an industry setting and which concurrently drive the designand the project schedule. Soft skills are developed through classroom lectures, given by outsideexperts, as well as through required assignments. This format also contributes to emphasizingthe importance of ABET a-k topics6,7 . Introduction to the concepts that documentation anddesign audits are an integral part of the design process is tacit to this course. Performance of the Page 9.11.1 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Qaissaunee

competencies through curriculumdevelopment and adaptation, and integration of work-relevant, industry-driven curricula thatintegrates “best practices” in IT education with industry skills standards and certifications. Working with partners NCTT, NWCET, and NJCATE, the project staff is developingcredit courses through adaptation of industry standard materials. These courses incorporatemodular, industry-driven, competency-based curricula and work-based learning units in wirelesscommunications for two-year colleges that articulate with related curricula for a resulting B.S.degree. Key components of the curriculum are 1) modularity, 2) industry-driven, 3)competency-based, 4) integration of “soft skills”, 5) work-based learning components, and 6

Conference Session

Serving the Information Needs of Engineering Technology Educators

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Marilyn Dyrud

Technology provided ahome; with publication in JET, the bibliography underwent a facelift, a major change informatting to comply with the Chicago Manual of Style.The early 1990s saw a change not only in the content of scholarly articles but in vocabulary aswell. Things became hyper: Ahypercard,@ Ahypertext,@ Ahypermedia.@ Japanese terms, such asATaguchi@ and Apoka yoke@ crept into article titles, and the language of business, courtesy ofTQM, was applied to academia: students became Acustomers@; affected others wereAstakeholders.@5 AContinuous improvement@ was seemingly required of all educationalprograms, and engineering and technology educators became more eclectic, as they strove toteach not only technical material but integrate the soft skills as

Conference Session

Leadership in the Curriculum

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Doug Schmucker, Trine University

assignments that teach leadership skills without the students at first realizing this intent. Included are examples of assignments, how the assignments are integrated, rubrics used for assessing and evaluating student performance, and the courses in which the assignments are used.The ChallengeLeadership skills have traditionally fallen into the “soft skills” segment of engineering curriculaif they exist in it at all. One prevalent perspective suggests that leaders are born. Leadershipcannot be taught, only given the opportunity to flourish, says this perspective. Yet, both industryand academe call for professionals and graduates with greater team skills, communication skills,ethics training, life-long learning habits, and

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Education by Design

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

April Kedrowicz

Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering EducationChanges in Engineering EducationIndustry and accreditation boards alike agree that the emphasis placed on technical skills, thoughnecessary for engineering students, is not sufficient. Specifically, increased attention has beenplaced on so-called “soft skills” including speaking, writing, and teamwork.2-4 For example,interview responses from employers point to the increasing difficulty students have with thetransition from student to professional. This difficulty, employers argue, is largely due to a lackof necessary skill development including the ability to work as a team, the ability tocommunicate, and an awareness of workplace expectations.2 Despite the fact that teamwork is anintegral

Conference Session

ECE Laboratory Development & Innovations

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Luke Niiler; David Beams

Session 3432 Improving Technical Writing through Published Standards: The University of Texas at Tyler Electrical Engineering Laboratory Style Guide David M. Beams Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Tyler Lucas P. Niiler Department of English and Writing Center Director, University of Texas at TylerAbstractThe writing of technical reports is an integral part of the duties of practicing engineers. Theaccreditation criteria of EC2000 recognize this by placing emphasis on "soft skills

Conference Session

TC2K and Assessment

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Kenneth Reid; Elaine Cooney

Session 2149 Assessment Rubrics for TAC-ABET Interpersonal Skills Elaine M. Cooney, Kenneth Reid Purdue School of Engineering and Technology Indiana University Purdue University IndianapolisIntroductionMeasuring non-technical skills (sometimes called “soft skills”), such as the ability to function onteams (ABET Technology Criteria 2000, Criterion 1.e.), or the ability to communicateeffectively (Criterion 1.g.) can be a challenge to technology faculty trained in engineeringtechnology, but not necessarily experts in communication or leadership. These skills

Conference Session

The Best of Interdisciplinary Programs

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Ralph Ford; Jana Goodrich; Robert Weissbach

initial course offering, the faculty identified two principal areas ofimprovement. The first area concerned student team dynamics. Engineering and technologycurricula often focus on the technical abilities of students, neglecting the “soft skills” that willoften determine success or failure for a graduate when (s)he enters the workforce. As anexample, project management skills are often neglected in an engineering curriculum, requiringadditional training for those engineers who end up in management positions6. Skills such as theability to lead and work effectively as a member of a team are frequently identified as critical tothe success of an engineer, but typically are lacking in new engineering graduates7. The same istrue of business students

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Education by Design

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Jim Rand; Don Bowie; Donald Peter; Anthony Donaldson

ambitious design projectwith substantial documentation requirements. Students complained, and rightly so, that thenon-technical aspects were robbing them of time they needed to work on the electronicdesigns themselves. Some who especially had a difficult time appreciating thedevelopment of “soft skills” complained that they did not major in electrical engineering tolearn about business!In light of this recognized burden, it was decided to offload some non-technical topics fromthe Spring Quarter course into Winter Quarter Electronics II course (EE3722.Consequently, in the 2002 course sequence this was done, as well as some other lesserimprovements. This proved to be a help, but it was still too much to cram into a singlecourse without losing

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Vijay Rajappa; Steve Watkins; Ray Luechtefeld

requirecollaborative effort. Engineers interact in the workplace with technical peers in other disciplinesat all stages of design, development, and application. Hence, engineering work is increasinglyoriented toward boundary-crossing, multi-disciplinary team activity. The potential and need to Page 9.461.1improve engineering training and education regarding team soft skills such as team dynamics Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Educationand communication are widely recognized 3. Current accreditation criteria

Conference Session

Design in Freshman Year

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Philip Parker; Max Anderson

; GOAL 3: Enhance various “soft” skills such as time management, communication skills, teamwork, etc.; Page 9.235.1Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education GOAL 4: Provide freshmen with an understanding of the breadth of the civil and environmental engineering profession; GOAL 5: Positively impact retention of freshman civil and environmental engineering students.BackgroundThe University of Wisconsin-Platteville is one of the largest primarily undergraduate

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Philip Parker; Max Anderson

challenging; GOAL 3: Enhance various “soft” skills such as time management, communication skills, teamwork, etc.; Page 9.236.1Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education GOAL 4: Provide freshmen with an understanding of the breadth of the civil and environmental engineering profession; GOAL 5: Positively impact retention of freshman civil and environmental engineering students.BackgroundThe University of Wisconsin-Platteville is one of the largest primarily

Conference Session

Experience with Experiential Learning

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Mary Beth Lakin; Gary Crossman

Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Educationabout the identification of learning outcomes. They must also determine specific criteria, levelof sufficiency of documentation, appropriate level of writing, and issues with learning gaps.Courses often have objectives related to professional behaviors, or soft skills, such ascommunication, ethics, presentation and collaboration, so there must be consideration of howthese skills can be assessed in the portfolio process (Lakin and Clark, 2002). At Old Dominion,the engineering technology faculty re-examined and clarified learning outcomes for the capstonecourse and how they could most effectively be

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Mesut Muslu

.14Engineering educators generally agree that design projects provide significant opportunities tomotivate students. The Electrical Engineering (EE) faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP) believes that appropriately designed projects integrated into the curriculumprovides immediate applications of the theory and also expands students’ horizon regardingwhat kind of problems they will be dealing with in the real world after graduation.Furthermore, design projects help students develop their “soft skills” that are essential to besuccessful professionals. Hence, the EE faculty has designed a curriculum where design isdistributed throughout the curriculum. The following sections detail our approach to teachingdesign and providing extensive

Conference Session

Materials Science for Nonmajors

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Jamie Workman

Telecommunications Classrooms with an Emphasis on Soft Skills, www.nctt.org/experientiallearning 4. Workman, J. Siurek, A. Smith G., Development of a Multimedia Laboratory Supplement for an Introduction to Materials Course: A Computer Graphics Technology Senior Design Project, Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Montreal, Quebec, June 2002Biographical Information Page 9.891.8 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering

Conference Session

Unique Courses & Services for Freshmen

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Thompson; William Oakes

Session 3453 Integration of Service Learning into a Freshman Engineering Course William Oakes & Michael Thompson Purdue UniversityAbstract Service learning (SL) is a pedagogy that integrates community service into the academicexperience. Studies have shown that service learning can positively impact student learning,provides a rich environment for students to learn the “soft” skills that are often difficult to teachin traditional classes, can increase retention in participants, and can broaden the view ofengineering among the participants. Service-learning can greatly

Conference Session

The Nuts & Bolts of TC2K

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Paul Lin; Harold Broberg

used carefully to design capstone course outcomes as shown below. We noted thatitems “a-d” address hard skills and items “e-k” emphasis soft skills. Most teaching-learning cycles of outcomes-based courses may involve the following four stages: courseplanning, conduct teaching-learning process, assessment of progress and capturing newknowledge, and continuous improvement. From Appendix 1, it is no surprise to see thatthe two capstone courses meet all "a-k" requirements. The ECET 490/491 capstonecourses outcomes are listed below. ECET 490/ECET491 Course Outcomes: A student who successfully fulfills the course requirements will have demonstrated the ability to 1. integrate the knowledge gained in earlier courses, and be creative in

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Douglas Coffin; Catherine Almquist; Amit Shukla; Michael Bailey-Van Kuren; James Kiper; Christine Noble

onprocess more than discipline specific content. The intention of these courses will be to enhancethe freshmen’s understanding of engineering and computing and the differences that are offeredby each specific major within SEAS. The course environment will be welcoming to the newstudent and will offer a forum for students to develop a sense of community within SEAS andMiami. Soft skills such as teamwork, communication, and ethics will be emphasized in EAS 101which is to be a 1 credit hour course. This course will introduce all students to the computing andengineering professions and their role in society. Students will explore the common bonds andunique features of different disciplines offered by SEAS. The students will also be engaged in anactive

Conference Session

New Electrical ET Course Development

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Biswajit Ray

soft skills including teamwork, open- instrumentation systems for industrial processes ended problem solving, formal report writing and using multiple sensors, interface electronics, data presentation acquisition card, and GPIB and serial instrumentsLaboratory setupEach station is equipped with a PC, and GPIB/RS-232 interfaced instruments such as digitalmultimeter, triple output laboratory power supply, arbitrary function generator, and color two-channel digital oscilloscope. The instrumentation and data acquisition specific software andhardware are briefly described below.Software: LabVIEW 6.0 from National Instruments7Data acquisition (DAQ) board: Model 6024E from National Instruments • 16 single-ended or 8

Conference Session

Global Engineering in an Interconnected World

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Bethany Oberst; Russel Jones

, that’s a very different kind of trainingdebate than what we’ve typically talked about in these very walls at Brookings, which is let’s figure out how we cangive people coming off the welfare rolls the soft skills they need to make it into the labor market. And we’ve had apretty time, really pushing that agenda very far and have had some success but questionable. So you’re talkingabout a training agenda that is so far beyond anything we’ve contemplated.”23 Reich, Robert. “Jobless in America.” CIO Magazine. Fall/Winter 2003.http://www.cio.com/archive/092203/index.html24 “The Science and Engineering Workforce: Realizing America’s Potential,” National Science Board. NationalScience Foundation, August 14, 2003. Available at http://www.nsf.gov/nsb

Conference Session

The Best of Interdisciplinary Programs

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

William Rossi; Herbert Ingley; Erik Sander; Dow Whitney; Marc Hoit; R. Keith Stanfill

Engineeringprovided funds for this company.ConclusionThe UF ITV program provides a unique experiential learning environment for engineering andbusiness students. Students learn firsthand how entrepreneurial ventures are formed and operate.Along their educational journey, they also learn many technical and soft skills necessary to beproductive professionals. Program success will be measured in terms of student learningobjectives and the spin-off of new ventures. We hope this success creates jobs for the local areaand a steady stream of trained technology entrepreneurs.AcknowledgementsThe following colleagues were key to getting the ITV program launched: E.J. Sander, W.J.Rossi, R.K. Stanfill, P. Davenport, A. Martin, C. Sapienza, H.A. Ingley, K. Hatfield

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Programs

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

W. Wentzheimer; Jennifer VanAntwerp; Gayle Ermer; Steven VanderLeest

American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering EducationAnother helpful influence is for students to be exposed as much as possible to engineeringpractitioners. These engineers almost unanimously emphasize the importance of “soft skills”and a broad context for success. This means encouraging faculty to maintain ties with industry,bringing in engineers from industry for seminars and guest lectures, and providing mentoringopportunities for our students in local businesses. A particularly effective experience this yearwas a panel of members from our industrial advisory council talking about what it takes to be asuccessful engineer in a number of

Conference Session

Entrepreneurism in BME

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

David Smith; John Troy; Penny Hirsch

another and (b) situating learning within real-world (“authentic”) challenges • Assessment-centered: (a) providing frequent opportunities for students to make their thinking visible, so their misunderstandings can be corrected, and (b) revising teaching and learning activities after measuring student learningIn addition, modules reflect two other key VaNTH activities: a taxonomy of core concepts andskills in biomedical engineering, which is intended to become a central document for curricularplanning, and a taxonomy of related core competencies in areas such as communication, ethics,and teamwork. This latter taxonomy resembles other taxonomies of “soft skills” that are underdevelopment, such as the CDIO taxonomy in the