THE IDENTIFICATION OF FUTURE PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR THE GRADUATE STRUCTURAL ENGINEER AND THE CO-CREATION OF THEIR DEFINITIONS.

Employers recognise that the future is changing and as such the structural engineer’s role is changing along with the skill set required. The skills gap has been acknowledged yet there is no consensus on which skills are most important for these engineers. This research presents the outcome of a project which proposes future professional skills needs for the structural engineer and the co-creation of their definitions. A review of the most recent relevant literature alongside chartership requirements of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) and Engineers Ireland (EI), as well as consideration of three seminal consultation and analysis reports on the future skills in the sector, led to the identification of 7 skills. These are the traditional, though evolving skills related to communication, technical ability, management and engineering practice as well as emerging skills related to sustainability, technology and digitisation and society. It is accepted, however, that there may be different conceptions of each term, therefore, the presented research describes the co-creation of definitions for each of these skills with undergraduate structural engineering students. The work describes how focus groups were used to engage students in a conversation around the meaning and importance of each skill resulting in specific action orientated definitions for each skill. These definitions will then be used in the next phases of the project which engage the same students in a reflective e-portfolio exercise and structural engineering educators in a review of the programme outcomes in relation to such skills

Students’ Experiences Of Reflecting On Their Development Of Professional Skills In An Engineering Programme.

Engineers play a central role in addressing the challenges which face society, and recent literature highlights the need for emphasis on the development of professional skills in engineering programmes. This paper describes the outcomes of a study which investigated students’ experiences of reflecting on the development of their professional skills using an ePortfolio in a pilot project. A focus group was used to capture students’ experiences of the reflection process and the use of the ePortfolio. Transcripts were analysed thematically to draw out the key experiences and to provide feed-forward advice for the next iteration of the project. The findings show that students need support in the reflection process, and clearer signposting between each skill and the modules relevant to their development. Students also found it difficult to ascertain their competency levels and felt that industry experience was needed to help score themselves accurately. Feed-forward advice included incorporating an ePortfolio throughout all years of the programme which would track their improvement in a range of skills, and providing a rubric to help assess their competency. The outcome of this study can be used by educators who wish to incorporate a professional skills ePortfolio in their engineering programmes

Engineering Students\u27 Perceptions of their Development of Professional Skills

Engineers play a central role in addressing the challenges which face society. However, the influence of globalisation, disruptive technological change and complex social problems will greatly affect the way engineers work in the future. As a result, there have been calls to embrace transformational change in engineering education, yet the literature reveals that many reform efforts have fallen short. Industry and society will therefore continue to look to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to better prepare engineering graduates with the new skills needed to face the challenges of the future. Notwithstanding the critical and valued role that technical engineering subjects have within an engineering programme, the literature suggests that there is a need for a greater focus on the development of a range of skills. The primary aim of this study is to determine how third year students in our Structural Engineering undergraduate degree programme perceive their skills development through the recording of their reflections in an ePortfolio. This will allow us to identify areas where students feel less confident and target those for future development. The first step was to identify what skills our students should be competent in upon graduating. The skills identification was a three-pronged approach as follows and is described in detail in [1]: - A review of skills required by professional bodies - A review of skills required by industry - Input from students into how they perceive these skills including a feedback session with 3rd year Structural Engineering students to get a grasp of their understanding of the skills identified A review of the most recent relevant literature alongside chartership requirements of the Institution of Structural Engineers [2] and Engineers Ireland [3], as well as consideration of three seminal consultation and analysis reports on the future skills in the sector [4]–[6], led to the identification of 7 skill clusters. These are the traditional, though evolving skills related to communication, technical ability, management and engineering practice, as well as emerging skills related to sustainability, technology and digitisation and society. It is accepted however that there may be different conceptions of each term, therefore, the presented research describes the co-creation of definitions for each of these skills with undergraduate structural engineering students [1]. Focus groups were used to engage students in a conversation around the meaning and importance of each skill resulting in specific action orientated definitions for each skill. These definitions were then be used in the next phases of the project which engage the same students in a reflective ePortfolio exercise and structural engineering educators in a review of the programme outcomes in relation to such skills. Portfolios are generally used as way to record a learner’s development, i.e. their knowledge, skills and competences. Portfolios also serve as a stimulus to encourage students to reflect on their performance to enable them to self-assess, both key aspects of developing into life-long learners [7]. The current growth in availability of technologies for learning provides an opportunity for students to easily record evidence and artefacts which reflect their learning in an accessible manner. Thus ePortfolios serve as both a tool to encourage reflection and self-assessment in addition to a repository of evidence on development of competences and skills. A number of ePortfolio options were discussed in this project. As this was a pilot study, it was decided to use the ePortfolio available in Brightspace which is the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) we currently use in TU Dublin City Campus. Students are already familiar with this VLE and we felt it would be a good way for the students to save their reflections. The ePortfolio can link to the students’ modules, and may be shared with staff whilst not publicly available