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New Approach for Engineering Education

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Conference

ASEE Southeast Section Conference

Location

Arlington, Virginia

Publication Date

March 12, 2023

Start Date

March 12, 2023

End Date

March 14, 2023

Conference Session

Curriculum Development 2

Tagged Topic

Professional Engineering Education Papers

Page Count

10

DOI

10.18260/1-2--45029

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/45029

Download Count

93

Paper Authors

biography

Basel Alsayyed Western Carolina University

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Dr. Basel Alsayyed is the Engineering Technology Program Director and an assistant professor of the practice in the School of Engineering and Technology at Western Carolina University. Before joining WCU, Dr. Alsayyed was an Industrial Professor in the department of mechanical engineering, of University of Alberta (UofA), Canada. Prior to joining UofA, Dr. Alsayyed was an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in UAE University. With over 19 years of experience in academia, and over 12 years of industrial experience, primarily in the American automotive industry, Dr. Alsayyed has a passion for innovation in education, teaching, research, and training. Integration of academia and industry goals and activities are paramount to Dr. Alsayyed. Sensing the industry needs and preparing future engineers to meet those needs and challenges is an important dimension of Dr. Alsayyed’s activities.
Dr. Alsayyed has published more than forty articles in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He has seven granted patents. Dr. Alsayyed’s research interests are in the areas of advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, design optimization, quality & reliability, engineering education, project management, and knowledge management.
Dr. Alsayyed has a Ph.D. in Industrial engineering, three Masters: (Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Project Management). Dr. Alsayyed is a Certified Manufacturing Engineer (CMfgE) since 1997.

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Abstract

As the google era is taking over many aspects in our life, the author believes that education is affected most. Traditional engineering education, is hit hard by the so much information available on the internet. The environment we have for our future engineers have three dimensions (pillars): degree, career, success. Getting a degree remains the main most important pillar to acknowledge that an engineer is ready to get a job, and build his/her career and be a successful engineer. Any engineering degree has requirements, once they are met, a degree is conferred upon the graduate. However, any first degree in engineering will give the “engineer” a permit to be able to practice engineering, but never can claim that he/she got all the knowledge to make him/her an expert in the field. In this paper, the author is proposing a shift on how engineering education is carried out. Literally any subject can be searched over the internet and can be “learned”, including design of different parts. If you need to design a gear, one of the most complicated components, you can find multiple ways of help on the internet including videos and detailed steps. The research question is: do we really still need to take students through the 4-5 years programs to get the degree that will enable students to practice engineering? Definitely new generations can find the needed info over the internet, however, does that enable them to get the skill of that they learned. The author argument is that mentoring is still needed to build the confidence and ability of the future engineers, however, we should rethink the approach and the time we spend to prepare our future engineers. The proposed change in this paper is based on restructuring curriculum and learning outcomes to focus more on the verification of the ability to apply skills in real life rather than spending the time on teaching the knowledge which is already available in abundance at the tip of our students’ fingers. Keywords Traditional educations, technology in education, engineering curriculum

Alsayyed, B. (2023, March), New Approach for Engineering Education Paper presented at ASEE Southeast Section Conference, Arlington, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--45029

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