Emotional Intelligence in Engineering Management Education: The Missing Priority

This chapter aims to increase understanding of how engineering students can benefit from integrating emotional intelligence (EI) into engineering curricula at universities. In particular, it explores the nature of EI and argues for the greater use of EI within engineering education, but also considers the challenges of placing an emphasis on EI within this field. The chapter makes recommendations for how EI skills can be incorporated into engineering education and how universities can seize the opportunity to shape the modern engineer and advance the standing of engineering in the future. The chapter's contribution lies in raising awareness not just about the benefits of integrating EI within engineering education, but also on the challenges that an empathetic behaviour entail. The authors argue that university education needs to be able to prepare graduates with engineering fundamentals and also for success and actual on-the-job EI skills

Testing Strategies to Enhance Online Student Collaboration in a Problem-Based Learning Activity

Most units of learning are being offered flexibly, either using distance education or online facilities, and often with asynchronous computer-mediated communication or online discussions. The use of asynchronous computer-mediated communication is believed to offer students the opportunity to communicate independently of time and place, and to ask questions, state opinions and offer advice when transferring interactive learning activities to an online environment. This chapter uses an action research framework to examine the quantity and nature of student engagement in a problem-based learning activity as a consequence of placing face-to-face instruction on and practice in problem-based learning prior to using asynchronous computer-mediated communication. The effectiveness of early placement of a 4-day residential component to improve student collaboration in the online problem-based learning activity was tested against six years (2001-2006) of electronically-archived online discussions in a 13-week, under- or post-graduate tertiary-level natural science unit