scholarly journals Humanitarian engineering education fieldwork and the risk of doing more harm than good

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian H. Birzer ◽  
Jaimee Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering

scholarly journals Modeling Humanizing Education Through Newly Reviewed Materials Engineering Curriculum

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Norshahida Sarifuddin ◽  
Zuraida Ahmad ◽  
Ahmad Zahirani Ahmad Azhar ◽  
Hafizah Hanim Mohd Zaki ◽  
Amelia Wong Azman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Materials Engineering ◽  
New Curriculum ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The University

In line with the current global focus on sustainability and the well-being of the planet, becoming a professional engineer nowadays requires more than simple mastery of technical skills. Considering that engineers are required to have a deep sense of responsibility not only for humankind but also for the environment, engineering education and practices must be reformed substantially to prepare engineers that will contribute to sustainable development. This necessitates updating conventional engineering programs (CEE) to incorporate Humanizing Engineering Education (HEE). Although HEE is an old practice of individual engineers and other organizations outside the academic field, it is relatively new in academic engineering. While the definition of what truly merits being considered HEE remains debatable, many engineers believe that their work involves a humanitarian aspect. To streamline the development of HEE, there is a need for developing guidelines and frameworks for a comprehensive model. Ideally, that framework should integrate humanizing pedagogy in the new curriculum design. The objective of the paper is to share the experience of the authors in designing a new curriculum for a Materials Engineering Programme (MEP) that is embedded with Humanitarian Engineering (HE), which is among the main elements of HEE. Data collection was through interviews, qualitative surveys, reports from the stakeholders, accreditation bodies and benchmarking with other Higher Learning Institutions (HLI). An extensive scholarly literature review was executed to identify shortcomings in CEE and how it could be reformed by integrating it with HEE. The Sejahtera Academic Framework (SAF); a strategic framework for academic programmes developed by the university, was used as a reference to customize MEP to better meet students’ needs. Since the proposed model applies a new emerging concept, it inevitably raises challenges related to different levels of understanding among course implementers and perceptions of external stakeholders. Moreover, the developers had to consider the limitations imposed by the university's policies and structures while acknowledging the availability of finite resources (i.e. time, money, equipment, and expertise).

Students’ attitude toward sustainability and humanitarian engineering education using project-based and international field learning pedagogies

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Truc Thanh Ngo ◽  
Bradley Chase
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Development Education ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering

Purpose Environmental sustainability and social contexts are becoming increasingly important concepts. The infusion of sustainability and humanitarian engineering (HE) into the academic core curriculum is often challenging. This study aims to provide an understanding of students’ perceptions and attitudes toward the incorporation of active learning of sustainability and humanitarian concepts into engineering education. Design/methodology/approach A project-based sustainability course was developed and offered to engineering undergraduates. A HE international field experience was also provided to students as an extracurricular activity. Pre- and post-surveys were conducted to assess students’ perceptions and attitudes toward sustainability and HE project learning experience. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the statistical significance of the results and demographic influences on students’ experiences. Findings Both project-based and international field learning experiences positively influenced the students’ perceptions of sustainable practices, social change and appreciation of the engineering profession. Multidisciplinary learning also helped students become more motivated, engage in sustainability-promoted activities and community work and improve their social interactions. Students gained practical engineering skills that they did not typically receive in traditional classroom settings and recognized the global and social responsibilities that are core to sustainable development education. Originality/value The study demonstrates a mixed undergraduate educational model in which students acquired sustainability concepts through a project-based engineering course and practiced social responsibility through international HE projects. The findings help engineering educators understand students’ perceptions toward sustainability and HE, providing insight into effective curriculum design and strategic inclusion of social responsibility in traditional engineering education.

scholarly journals Intensive Mode Teaching of a Humanitarian Engineering Course to Enhance Service-Learning

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Smith ◽  
Paul Compston ◽  
Sally Male ◽  
Caroline Baillie ◽  
Jennifer Turner
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
International Experience ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Common Component ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering

Service-learning is a common component of many humanitarian engineering education programs.  Students engage with external organisations and communities, often spending time intensively, on projects linked to their studies.  To help prepare students for substantial service-learning initiatives a dedicated humanitarian engineering course was developed.  To better represent service-learning and enable a greater variety of teaching and learning activities, the course was delivered over five weeks using intensive mode teaching.  This enabled a portion of the class to be involved with a two-week scaffolded immersive international experience running in parallel to the campus delivery.  Threshold concept and capability theory was used to evaluate the course and identify what elements of the course supported or hindered development of student thresholds.  Results identified the main student threshold to be the ability to take account of social factors in engineering design and the activities enabled by the intensive mode teaching were among the strongest contributions to the achievement of this threshold, in particular elements of the international experience.  This highlights the opportunities for intensive mode teaching in supporting activities related to service-learning.

scholarly journals Letter from the Editor

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Colledge
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Special Edition ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering

The editors of the International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (IJSLE) are pleased to publish this, our first special edition of the Journal, entitled “Opportunities and Barriers to Integrating Service Learning into Engineering Education”.   The editors solicited scholarly manuscripts that would explore three areas related to service learning in engineering, humanitarian engineering, and/or social entrepreneurship - both domestically and internationally.  These three areas included: 1.    Assessment of Service Learning in Engineering 2.    Scholarship of Service Learning in Engineering 3.    Interdisciplinary Engagement

scholarly journals Humanitarian Engineering at The Ohio State University: Lessons Learned in Enriching Education While Helping People

2014 ◽  
pp. 78-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Bixler ◽  
Joseph Campbell ◽  
Roger Dzwonczyk ◽  
Howard L Greene ◽  
John Merrill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Ohio State University ◽  
State University ◽  
International Projects ◽  
Collaborative Engagement ◽  
The Ohio State University ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering

Humanitarian engineering at The Ohio State University (OSU) has enriched our delivery of engineering education and at the same time led, via collaborative engagement, to helping people and communities. Here, we describe our curricular program, extracurricular activities, domestic and international projects, meetings and coordination, and our new Humanitarian Engineering Center. Throughout, we provide “lessons learned” for all these categories, and in conclusion provide some general lessons and challenges for engineering education.

scholarly journals Humanizing Engineering Education: A Comprehensive Model for Fostering Humanitarian Engineering Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 01
Author(s):  
Mohammed Baaoum
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Comprehensive Model ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering ◽  
History Of Engineering ◽  
Building Practice

The goal of the paper is to provide guidelines for building a comprehensive model that fosters humanitarian engineering education. The paper brings the voice of field practitioners and students, in addition to academic research, to determine the most critical attitudes, skills, and capacity building practice for empowering humanitarian engineers. A large pool of data related to the research topic was collected through an online questionnaire answered by 187 members of Engineers Without Borders. Inductive analysis methodology was used to analyze the survey results. Moreover, scholarly literature review was done to review the history of engineering and learn about the shortcomings in conventional engineering education and how it could be reformed to meet humanitarian engineering challenges.

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