The 2008 Annual ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition brought engineering professors and graduate students from across the US together in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to discuss engineering education. Some issues at conference included, connecting engineering departments to K-12 students and teachers, developing stronger freshmen engineering classes, and getting engineering students to think globally.
Professors are finding that going global means that connecting engineering students to humanities and language classes is very important. Professors at the conference talked about strengthening language requirements and creating partnerships between humanities departments and engineering departments, in an effort to get more students to study abroad and think global.
The language of math and science is almost always English, so therefore many American engineering students get off easy, with less rigorous language requirements then in other disciplines. However, as a presenter at the conference pointed out, it is important that American students not be allowed to take “language” for granted. Having students learn a new language is not about what language they learn but that there is an effort to learn. It is really a challenge to teach students about the difficulties of learning a new language and making them aware of global language barriers.
Previously, most engineering students were not focused on the humanities or language classes, but now it seems new efforts may promise to produce even more qualified engineers. Helping the students think globally has led to the development of groups like the Engineers Without Boarders, who are passionate about the environment and others in a global society and work to use their engineering know- how to make changes.
With engineering departments making some sort of global experience a requirement and thinking about ties to language and humanities, this is a trend worth paying attention to.
Related: NEXT-GENERATION ENGINEERING: INNOVATION THROUGH INTEGRATION
