Three Perspectives on Exploring Change

THE FIFTH in a series of global colloquia on engineering education organized by ASEE was held in Rio de Janeiro Oct. 8-12. The theme of the meeting was "Engineering Education in the Americas and Beyond." Three tracks provided the structure of the meeting: development of the curriculum for the global engineer, Engineering for the Americas and primary and secondary education. Summaries of each are provided below.

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Development of the Curriculum for the Global Engineer

Teri Reed-Rhoads, Purdue University, Rapporteur

The "Development of the Curriculum for the Global Engineer" track began with a lesson in "Globish," a simplified version of the English language proposed by Jean Paul Nerrière, a French businessman, in 2004. We learned through example that, although it is the language of choice for much of the world, Globish is typically not well spoken by native English speakers and consequently creates problems when one of the latter tries to communicate with one or more of the former. Nevertheless, this is an example of a simplified language that may be one of the unifying elements of the global engineer. Globalization blurs traditional boundaries of business and technology; nationality, location and ownership are just a few of the issues that add to that blurring. Many implications for engineers and engineering educators were raised in the global engineering discussion. Some of these included: language, global skills, competitiveness within the discipline with global standards, global teaming, collaboration, mobility, flexibility, intercultural sensitivity, cross-cultural communication and last, but certainly not least, learning languages. Based on these needs, the discussions focused on what universities can do to better ensure that their graduates possess these qualifications.

The overall themes of the track included the developing relationships between North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, working collaboratively across cultures, international service learning projects, outreach to international students and innovative approaches to international engineering education. The key words presented during the three days of 15 presentations and 90 posters can be synthesized as follows:

* Globish A need for a common language or appreciation for the necessary level of communication that is needed in the global environment.

* Bilingual-Bicultural The need is more than language; cultural awareness is important. Students need to be bicultural as well as bilingual. There was general agreement that students need to study internationally to acquire these two important abilities.

* Partnerships Pushes from industry and professional organizations will move the international agenda quicker. This includes accreditation bodies such as the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET).

* Connectedness There is an international need for us to work together toward producing globally competent engineers, especially for the world's future.

* Collaboration to Leadership The Collaborative Advantage - Leadership will go to those who can best collaborate. Academia must teach these skills rather than just technical knowledge and skills.

* Humanitarian Engineering The common thread through many of the models utilized in global education is humanitarian engineering. Gone are the days of making half a widget in one country and the other half in another country and then seeing if they fit. Now we seem to be solving real problems in real situations.

Though relatively few students are going abroad from any one country (and especially from the United States), all indications are that this must quickly change. From Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat" to a growing recognition of the value of diversity that globalization and global teams bring, the future need to understand and provide global experiences seems undisputed. There are many challenges to global experiences, beginning with convincing students and/ or their parents that this type of experiential learning is not only necessary but required in some instances. The experience is not inexpensive, and convincing people that these are funds well spent is part of the challenge. In addition, the perceptions of the programs themselves and the rigor involved run the gamut from extremely hard and time consuming to a vacation-type experience. Other challenges include faculty training and experience. Some of the most successful programs have strong faculty champions who either travel each time with the students or have traveled extensively and know all parties intimately. The staff and faculty support for securing access, entrance, paperwork and travel details is yet another important aspect that can be challenging. Gaining entrance is not always easy. The relationship development takes time and effort. When planning to send students abroad for any period of time, there is the question of student preparation. How long should the preparation be prior to going to a new country? What are the important topics? How familiar should the students be with the language and culture? These are just a few of the questions with which engineering educators are now struggling. The idea of coordinating dispersed teams is a pedagogically appealing process. However, how the teams and the associated change are managed is not always straightforward. The synchronization of distributed design projects can be daunting. Finally, what happens after the experience when the students/faculty/staff return? How can we incorporate their experiences with learning at the home institution? The exit plan is often the key to completing the learning.