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Session 3661

Harmonious Combination of Tradition and Innovation – Making a Connection between Liberal Arts and Technical Courses, and East and West–

Yuko Hoshino, L. Wayne Sanders

Kanazawa Institute of Technology/Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Abstract This paper is the result of collaboration between a foreign language and cultural studies professor in Japan and an engineering professor in the United States. It discusses a case study of the similarities between foreign language study and engineering courses at a private engineering college in Japan. Project study in a Chinese language course was conducted using the same methodology developed for engineering design courses. This methodology is easy for the students to follow, and reinforces the course goals in the language course by using acquired skills from engineering design to solve problems. In selecting a project in engineering design, the student must decide if the project can be finished in the given time frame. These same criteria can be applied to selecting a language project. Also, availability of information is a necessary question to be answered before selecting a project in either field.

An open audit policy of the language course made it easy for non-traditional students to participate and for traditional students to gain experience and insights into working with people with different backgrounds. This corresponds to working with groups in engineering design where the members have different backgrounds. The presentation of the language project work was open to the public and promoted outside feedback, just as in engineering design.

1 Background Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT) is a private college in Kanazawa, Japan and has three departments - engineering, environmental studies and architecture, and information science. It receives approximately 1500 to 1650 undergraduate students and 200 graduate students each year. The City of Kanazawa is located facing the Sea of Japan and can be reached by a 4.5 hour train ride, or 50 minute flight, from Tokyo. Although students come from all parts of Japan, most students come from nearby regions.

“Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2005 American Society for Engineering Education”

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Hoshino, Y., & Sanders, W. (2005, June), Harmonious Combination Of Tradition And Innovation Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14459