Intentional, Integrated Learning for Engineering Students

Abstract

In order to prepare our engineering students to be effective and ethical professionals, citizens, and individuals, we have restructured our curriculum to offer a more effective and coherent experience, providing more opportunities for interdisciplinary, experiential, and civic education, as well as reflection on vocation. Students intentionally construct a "pathway" (courses addressing a common theme) that situates new knowledge into an existing framework of their own definition, helping them to develop the skills of self-monitoring and reflection, and encouraging integration of their education. We are in the first year of implementation of the new core curriculum. In this paper I will report on the changes to the engineering curriculum intended to foster the development of students' abilities to integrate a wide variety of perspectives into the study of their engineering major. I will discuss the learning objectives of the core curriculum, including the requirement for a "pathway," and describe how changes to the introductory course and other requirements make a new curriculum possible without adding to the courseload of engineering majors. The senior design capstone experience brings it all back together again, addressing both technical and non-technical aspects of each student's experience.