A proposed definition of the engineering methodology

BACKGROUND An adequately concise and accurate definition of the profession of engineering that can simultaneously encompass a majority of the profession and be reasonably understood by a majority of society arguably remains as an elusive goal yet to be attained.While numerous definitions of the profession exist they tend to describe specific methods or approaches deployed in the practice of engineering rather than be suitably descriptive of the profession of engineering.The lack of an adequate, accurate and relevant definition of the profession of engineering has, and continues to, present disadvantages to the profession. While acknowledging this problem the profession continues to rely on existing inadequate, inaccurate, or irrelevant definitions of itself as it struggles to attain the degree of awareness, recognition, and appreciation of its significant benefits that directly impact society and the individual.Accordingly in many countries the choice of engineering as a career path often ranks below other profession choices such as medicine, law, and management - especially with adolescent girls. Also the relevance and role of professional engineering in socio-economic and socio-political contexts is often undervalued or neglected – especially in national and international policy discussions and development.PURPOSETo provide a clear, concise, and accurate definition of the profession of engineering that is acceptable for most, if not all, major stakeholders.METHOD A review of historical and contemporary definitions of professional engineering is provided. Using Koen’s definition of the engineering method in conjunction with Shulman’s set of characteristics common to professions a more generic definition is derived that seeks to simultaneously accommodate the homogenous multi-disciplinary attributes of professional engineering as well as accommodate the discipline specific attributes.RESULTS A proposed definition of the engineering methodology has been developed. A background introduction and justified derivation is provided for the proposed definition.CONCLUSIONS The limitations and inadequacies of historical and contemporary definitions of professional engineering have been considered. Using Koen’s definition as a basis a more generic multi-disciplinary and more contemporary definition is derived and presented. The goal of the proposed definition of the engineering methodology is to provide a more concise, more accurate, and most importantly a more comprehensible definition of the profession of engineering for the purpose of being applied to all major stakeholders of the profession

Enhancing learning for distance students in an Undergraduate engineering course through real-time web-conferencing

On-line education in engineering has attracted a great deal of interest in recent years. One of the difficulties faced in an on-line engineering program is how to ensure effective communication between lecturers and students, and among the students themselves.Techniques common ten years ago such as email, lecture notes posted to websites, and telephone conversations, are now seen as archaic when compared with opportunities offered by more modern communication technologies, such as real-time web-conferencing.We present our efforts to use the web-conferencing software Elluminate-Live! for delivering tutorials, discussion classes, and even laboratory practicals to groups of students studying engineering off-campus, including students posted overseas. Examples are given from two disciplines. We then compare student feedback across all engineering subjects over the years 2012-2013. Our results show that students welcome web-conferencing as a very effectivemeans to deliver classes to distance students and improve their learning experience

Creating a learning environment using game development

Background: In higher education the traditional teaching methods and corresponding learning environments, although often resource efficient and still widely deployed, have a tendency to fail in enabling the authentic learning of management knowledge and skills and to develop genuine practice capability. With respect to fundamental and core skills, knowledge, and capabilities in course curricula this is often observable by academics and employers in students\u27 inability to demonstrate and apply what has apparently been learned and assessed at an earlier level of the course or upon completion of it.Purpose: Can an effective learning environment, where active learning in project management is observable, be created using a game development project?Design/Method: A third level core project management unit offered annually within accredited Bachelor of Engineering courses was used to develop and assess a game development enabled learning environment. A total population of about 200 students was involved (across multiple engineering disciplines). This student population existed across two student cohorts (corresponding to two distinct modes of enrolment): campus-based (online study resources where on campus classes and seminars are available but not mandated) and cloud-based (online study resources distance where online seminars are available but not mandated).A majority of the assessment for the unit (both formative and summative) involved the development of a board game by students working in partnerships of two. The development goal assigned to student partnerships was to design and produce a serious board game that taught and/or assessed players\u27 knowledge and skills in fundamental project management theory and principles. Peer learning and peer assessment were also included as techniques aimed at enhancing student engagement, active learning, and authentic achievement of learning outcomes.Results: The use of the game development project in a core undergraduate engineering project management unit was trialled in the second trimester of 2016.This paper presents interim analysis of results, observations, and outcomes of the the game development project and corresponding summative assessment within the unit.Conclusions: Compared to traditional and common methods of teaching management theory and assessing the corresponding learning outcomes in higher education (such as historical case study analysis, tests, examinations) the deployment of game development as an alternative for learning and assessment can create a learning environment that better enables authentic learning.It is anticipated that management learning outcomes will be more capably demonstrated by students in subsequent stages of the undergraduate course and beyond the course in professional practice