Implementing Experiential Education on Engineering and Society

Abstract

Recent educational research in engineeringhas examined the challenges Canadian universities are facing when implementing graduate attributes, especially those attributes that involve significant social components (such as ethics and equity, impact of technology on society, and communication skills). In response to these challenges, this paper asks: how might experiential education be used as an approach to teach non-technical graduate attributes? Having asked this question at our own institution, we are in the process of implementing experienced-based approaches to engineering education. We describe our efforts in curricular and non-curricular spaces which include adding project-based components to our existing courses on technology and society and communication, designing a new experiential course on creativity and innovation, serving as clients for capstone courses, facilitating reflection for our co-op program, developing a workshop on community engagement, and organizing design competitions in our innovation centre. We analyze the challenges and the benefits of these approaches. Our argument is that experience alone may not lead to planned learning outcomes, so finding creative ways to promote reflection on experience becomes critical. In our programs, this has meant: playing the role of both client and facilitator in projects; partnering with faculty members in other disciplines; and having students directly interact with users from very different backgrounds. Through these approaches, we are finding ways to help students visualize the lived context of technology use in communities, and ways to help them understand the non-technical components of design and co-op work that are essential if we want to create just and sustainable outcomes though technology. The implication of this preliminary reflexive account is that experiential education holds much promise for improving instruction related to non-technical graduate attributes.

Three Birds, One Stone: A Pedagogy and Accreditation Driven Redesign

“…Co-op work terms also presumably provide an opportunity for our students to develop in the Graduate Attributes, especially the higher-level attributes, that may not be incorporated into technical courses. However, as discussed in Harsh et al [4], simply having on-the-job experiences may not necessarily lead to students acquiring related attributes.…”