Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Sudhir Mehta

percent of the students believe that the integration of soft skills into their courses areeither very important or important. The students considered problem solving (97%) and criticalthinking (95%) skills to be of most importance. TABLE I Importance of Integrating Soft Skills in Academic CoursesWhat is your opinion on integrating the following soft skills in your courses?Scale: A) Very Important B) Important C) Neutral D) Not Important E) Not Important at all Soft Skills Percentage Responses* A B C D ECooperative

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Paul Duesing; Morrie Walworth; Jim Devaprasad; Ray Adams; David McDonald

used in two junior level engineering labcourses. I. IntroductionIn recent years, there has been considerable discussion and dialog regarding the competency gapsof graduating engineers that need to be filled by educational institutions1. Several professionalorganizations and similar groups have sought input from engineers and managers from industryto determine the skills that employers demand of graduating engineers2-4. The results of thesestudies show that competency gaps in graduates usually fall under the following categories:communication skills, teamwork and interpersonal skills, creative problem solving skills, andleadership5. In general, these skills have been referred to as soft skills

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Marilyn Dyrud

processes, management/technicalstaff confrontations, communication between organizational levels and between organizations,and basic engineering design. This paper explores ethics education for technical students,including need, appropriate subject matter, methodology, and resources.Need Competency in technical matters is, of course, essential for our engineering and technologygraduates. Of increasing importance, however, are the “soft” skills, which include areas such ascommunications, interpersonal relations, and the social sciences. Indeed, some maintain that afirm grounding in these skills is as important in the workplace as technical facility. FormerASEE President Eleanor Baum, for example, has noted, “The area in which industry would

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Ronald R. Hosey; R. Gregg Bruce; Lester K. Eigenbrod; Hansjoerg Stern

recommendations for the new class. Theseideas included: awareness of the soft skills of leadership or management styles, interacting withpeople, how to treat customers, and qualities of an effective subordinate as well as boss. Adoptionof these recommendations within the new curriculum is in progress.8 References [1] Ullman, D. G. (1997). The mechanical design process. Boston, Massachusetts: McGraw-Hill. [2] Excellence in engineering design education. A three day short course & workshop, Saint Louis University & Texas A&M University, Saint Louis, Missouri, Aug. 3-5, 1997. [3] Stern, H. Team Projects can offer incentives. Proceeding of the ASEE 1989 Annual Conference.9 Biographical Data Each of the authors is an Associate Professor in the

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Michele H. Miller

toaccelerate the pace of curricular change. This paper describes the activities that comprised thisinternship as well as the skills observed to be most important. With a few exceptions, my list ofskills matches the lists derived from employer surveys. Based on these observations, myrecommendations for curriculum change are: (1) provide more opportunities for students todevelop the soft skills (for example, by requiring more practical team projects); (2) explicitlyteach process skills, such as problem solving and project management; (3) emphasize the basicsin engineering science courses and how to apply them to a variety of problems; (4) offer moresystems courses to help students deal with the complicated products and organizations they willencounter

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Peter A. Koen

need to have both superiortechnical and soft skills. Engineering schools have consistently provided graduates with technicalskills, but provided little, if any, education into the softer skills. Surveys like this one emphasizethe importance of the softer skills and help provide the sense of urgency1 which is needed toguide change.The value of this work lies in the process utilized to create and implement a survey. Assessmentof alumni and their employers by surveying their needs and the graduates preparedness is a toolthat will be more utilized by many schools as the new ABET criteria is embraced. The survey isonly valuable if it produces change. Developing a new curriculum, which often results in facultydisplacement since new courses must be

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Peter A. Koen; Pankaj Kohli

mannerand the ability to function on multi-function teams. Less important are the breath (item 19 ofTable 2) and depth (item 24 of Table 2) of engineering science. These are important findingswhich should guide the direction of new curriculums which need to emphasize “softer skills.”The challenge is to maintain the engineering skill level while supplementing it with “softerskills.” These results help lead us into the new millennium where graduating engineers will needto have both superior technical skills and broad soft skills. Engineering schools have consistentlyprovided graduates with technical skills, but provided little, if any, training into the “softer

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Anthony Brizendine

required? Or maybe, on-the-job experience itselfprovides for a lifetime of learning and development? The National Society of ProfessionalEngineers (NSPE) completed a two-year study of approximately 1000 employers in industry andgovernment in the early 1990’s; this study identified employers’ interests when evaluating apotential employee and sparked considerable discussion. Generally, graduates were assumed topossess technical skills; however, soft skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication andinterpersonal skills, analytical ability, personal initiative, and self-confidence were identified asareas for evaluation in the hiring process. In general, these skills and attributes are desired inaddition to basic competency in mathematics

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Stephen R. Fleeman

questions to the AEA and EIA projects.The questions and the project responses are summarized in Table 1.The EIA skill standards are structured to permit their incorporation into EET curricula to developentry-level electronics technicians. The AEA standards were designed to define the standardsrequired for workers already in the workplace.The AEA approach does not lend itself to direct incorporation in a classical EET program. However, theEIA project offers more of a balance between the hard and soft skills. The project is geared towardincorporation of the recommended skill standards within academia. Its stated (and demonstrated) concerntoward evaluation and certification from the onset of the project ensures concrete evaluation methods canbe

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert K. Tener; Vincent Drnevich

consistent withthat published by ASEE, NSPE, and ASCE. That is, industry is telling us locally as well asnationally that it needs well-rounded graduates who have a broad range of “soft skills” inaddition to the traditional set of engineering abilities. For some programs at least, the influenceof these local customers on educational objectives is significant.Clearly from the above, an engineering education must provide far more than facility withmathematics, science, engineering science, and discipline specific subject matter. Page 3.433.2Accreditation Criteria 4With the