Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.97, No.11, 2870-2875, 2019
Teaching engineering for a changing landscape
Engineering educators face a rapidly changing, and ever more challenging world. Rapidly evolving industry demands, accreditation agencies, and students themselves are calling for an engineering education with integrated multidisciplinary design knowledge, leadership, communication, business, education, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and lifelong learning explicitly included in their undergraduate programs. Students still need the core content knowledge of thermodynamics, mass, energy, and momentum balances and fluxes. They also need integrated socio-contextual knowledge to evaluate a design for sustainability and demonstrate a net positive social benefit. There is only so much time available in an undergraduate program and learning takes time. These challenges are driving changes to both what and how we teach our students to integrate broader competencies and enhance engineering student graduate attribute achievement. A framework for engineering education includes fundamental and socio-contextual knowledge integrated with metacognitive and professional skill development. This contribution provides practical ideas for how to infuse these dimensions into courses, support the developing engineering practice, and deepen student engagement with their courses.