Beder, Sharon. "Beyond Technicalities: Expanding Engineering Thinking." Journal of professional issues in engineering education and practice. 125, no. 1, 1999: 12-18.
In this article, Beder discusses the skills that will be required by engineers of the next millennium[1], and asserts that traditional engineering education does not address these new requirements. The author cites educational sources acknowledging the gap between engineers’ technical education and the need for social understanding, human interaction and written communication in their careers. Beder discusses the public perception of engineers as being singularly focused and lacking in social skills, and goes on to discuss how this perception impacts the selection and recruitment of engineers. The author examines some of the historical reasons for the strict technical and scientific focus of engineering programs, and then proceeds to look at the problems that have resulted from this approach. Beder further expands as to why this methodology does not fit with the inherent social aspects of technology development. Beder lists a set of required skills for the engineer of 2010 that go beyond the technical, and “enhanced communication skills” (1999, 17) tops this list. Beder concludes that a new educational approach is required in order to produce the engineers that are needed for the future.
The author is a visiting professor in the School of Social Sciences, Media and Communication at the University of Wollongong. Beder was first trained as a civil engineer before shifting her focus to the social and philosophical aspects of engineering. This background would seem to reflect her motivations for this paper, very similar to my own in fact. The article includes and extensive list of references, is peer-reviewed, and published through a large professional body. Although the article is over a decade old, it does speak to the recognition of a communication skills gap in engineering. In my research I would need to show that this gap still exists today. This article may not end up being used as a source, however it has been useful for initially validating some of my ideas, and providing a useful list of further sources to investigate.
No comments:
Post a Comment