Learning Outcomes in the Context of Engineering Practice

Edward F. Crawleycrawley@mit.edu CDIO Region-of-the-Americas MeetingDuke UniversityNovember 9, 2009

THE MOTIVATION FOR CHANGE

• Shortage of engineering graduates and those remaining in engineering careers

• Need to educate engineers to be more effective contributors and leaders

• Need to educate engineers to work in a more interdisciplinary manner

• Preparing students for increasing globalization• Increasing awareness and response to environmental

changes

DON’T PLAN TO SEND JOBS ABROAD:THEY HAVE THE SAME PROBLEMS!EVERYONE ELSE IS SENDING THEM THERE!

WORLDWIDE

THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS

DESIRED ATTRIBUTES OF AN ENGINEERING GRADUATE

• Understanding of fundamentals

• Understanding of design and manufacturing processes

• Multidisciplinary system perspective

• Good communication skills

• High ethical standards, etc.

UNDERLYING NEED

Educate students who:

•Understand how to conceive-design-implement-operate

•Complex value-added engineering systems

•In a modern team-based engineering environment

We have adopted CDIO as the engineering CONTEXT of our education.

DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Personal, Interpersonal and Design -System Building

DisciplinaryKnowledge

Pre-1950s:Practice

1960s:Science & practice

1980s:Science

2000s:CDIO

Engineers need both dimensions, and we need to develop education that delivers both

NATURE OF OUR MILLENIAL STUDENTS

• Social responsibility

• “New” modes of learning

• Excitement, gratification and success

• Groups

GOALS OF CDIO

• To educate students to master a deeper working knowledge of the technical fundamentals

• To educate engineers to lead in the creation and operation of new products and systems

• To educate all to understand the importance and strategic impact of research and technological development on society

And to attract and retain student in engineeringAnd to build diversity in our engineering workforce

VISION

We envision an education that stresses the fundamentals, set in the context of Conceiving – Designing – Implementing – Operating systems and products:

• A curriculum organised around mutually supporting disciplines, but with authentic CDIO activities highly interwoven

• Rich with student design-build projects

• Featuring active and experiential learning

• Set in both classrooms and modern learning laboratories and workspaces

• Constantly improved through robust assessment and evaluation processes

PEDAGOGIC LOGIC

• Most engineers learn from the concrete to the abstractManipulate objects to understand abstractions

• Students arrive at university lacking personal experience

• We must provide dual impact authentic activities to allow mapping of new knowledge - alternative is rote or “pattern matching”

• Using CDIO as authentic activity achieves two goals --Provides education in the creation and operation of systemsBuilds the cognitive framework to understand the

fundamentals more deeply

THREE PREMISES

1. The underlying need is best met by setting goals that stress the fundamentals, while at the same time making C-D-I-O the CONTEXT of engineering

2. LEARNING OUTCOMES for students should be • set through stakeholder involvement, and • met by constructing a sequence of integrated learning

experiences that expose students to situations that engineers encounter in their profession

3. Proper construction of these INTEGRATED LEARNING ACTIVITIES will cause the activities to have dual impact• facilitating student learning of critical personal and interpersonal

skills, and product, process, and system building skills, and• simultaneously enhancing the learning of the fundamentals

CDIO STRUCTURE AND RESOURCES

CONTEXT (1)

LEARNING OUTCOMES (2)

ACTIVITIES (3-12)

CHANGE PROCESS

BESTPRACTICE SCHOLARSHIP

CO-DEVELOPMENT

SHARINGSYSTEM VIEW

WHAT IS CONTEXT?

1. The words, phases or passages that come before, or after, a particular word or passage of text that help to explain its full meaning

2. The circumstances or events that form the environment within which something exists or takes place, for example

• A chair within a room• A decision influenced by the

organization

CONTEXT refers to the circumstances and surroundings that aid in understanding meaning.

WHAT IS ENGINEERING?

• Designing and implementing things that have not previously existed, and that directly or indirectly serve society or some element of society

• Von Kármán: “Scientists discover the world that exists, while engineers create the world that never was!”

• The life cycle of a product, process, project, system, software, material, molecule Conceiving: understanding needs and technology, and

creating the concept Designing: defining the information needed to implement Implementing: creating the actually operable system Operating: using the system to meet the need

ENGINEERING CONTEXT

STABLE ELEMENTS• A focus on the problems of the

customer and society• The delivery of new products,

processes, and systems• The role of invention and new

technology in shaping the future• The use of many disciplines to

develop the solution• The need for engineers to work

together, to communicate effectively, and to provide leadership in technical endeavors

• The need to work efficiently, within resources, and /or profitably

ENGINEERING CONTEXT (cont.)

CHANGING ELEMENTS• A change from mastery of the

environment to stewardship of the environment

• Shortened lifespan of products and technologies

• Increase in service orientation• Globalization and international

competition• Fragmentation and geographic

dispersion of engineering activities

• The increasingly human-centered nature of engineering practice

ENGINEERING EDUCATION CONTEXT

The product lifecycle is the CONTEXT of engineering education.

• A focus on the needs of the customer

• Delivery of products and systems• Incorporation of new inventions

and technologies• A focus on the solution, not

disciplines• Working with others• Effective communication• Working within resources

CDIO AS THE CONTEXT

CONCEIVE-DESIGN-IMPLEMENT-OPERATE as a model of the product, process, and system development and deployment process in engineering

Other models• Measure-Model-Manipulate-Make in biological

engineering at MIT• Engineering-Enterprising-Educating-

Environmenting-Ensembling in Leuven, Belgium

BENEFITS OF LEARNING IN CONTEXT

Setting the education of engineers in the CONTEXT OF ENGINEERING PRACTICE realizes the benefits of contextual learning:

• Increases retention of new knowledge and skills

• Interconnects concepts and knowledge that build on each other

• Communicates the rationale for, meaning of, and relevance of, what students are learning

BEST PRACTICE

STANDARD ONE

Adoption of the principle that product, process, and system lifecycle development and deployment -- Conceiving, Designing, Implementing and Operating -- are the context for engineering education

• It is what engineers do!• It is the underlying need and basis for the skills lists that

industry proposes to university educators• It is the natural context in which to teach these skills to

engineering students• It better supports the learning of the technical

fundamentals

NEED TO LEARNING OUTCOMES

Educate students who:

•Understand how to conceive-design-implement-operate

•Complex value-added engineering systems

•In a modern team-basedengineering environment

•And are mature and thoughtful individuals

The CDIO SYLLABUS is a comprehensive statement of detailed learning outcomes for engineering education.

1. Technical3. Inter-personal

2. Personal

4. CDIO

Process

Team

Product

Self

THE CDIO SYLLABUS AND UNESCO’S FOUR PILLARS1.0 Technical Knowledge & Reasoning

Knowledge of underlying sciencesCore engineering fundamental knowledgeAdvanced engineering fundamental knowledge

2.0 Personal and Professional Skills & AttributesEngineering reasoning and problem solvingExperimentation and knowledge discoverySystem thinkingPersonal skills and attributesProfessional skills and attributes

3.0 Interpersonal Skills: Teamwork & Communication

Multi-disciplinary teamworkCommunicationsCommunication in a foreign language

4.0 Conceiving, Designing, Implementing & Operating Systems in the Enterprise &

Societal ContextExternal and societal contextEnterprise and business contextConceiving and engineering systemsDesigningImplementingOperating

LEARNING TO KNOW

LEARNING TO BE

LEARNING TO WORK TOGETHER

LEARNING TO DO

CDIO SYLLABUS

• Syllabus at 3rd level• One or two more

levels are detailed• Rational• Comprehensive• Peer reviewed• Basis for design

and assessment

1 TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE AND REASONING1.1. KNOWLEDGE OF UNDERLYING

SCIENCES1.2. CORE ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTAL

KNOWLEDGE1.3. ADVANCED ENGINEERING

FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE

2 PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLSAND ATTRIBUTES2.1. ENGINEERING REASONING AND

PROBLEM SOLVING2.1.1. Problem Identification and Formulation2.1.2. Modeling2.1.3. Estimation and Qualitative Analysis2.1.4. Analysis With Uncertainty2.1.5. Solution and Recommendation

2.2. EXPERIMENTATION AND KNOWLEDGEDISCOVERY

2.2.1. Hypothesis Formulation2.2.2. Survey of Print and Electronic

Literature2.2.3. Experimental Inquiry2.2.4. Hypothesis Test, and Defense

2.3. SYSTEM THINKING2.3.1. Thinking Holistically2.3.2. Emergence and Interactions in

Systems2.3.3. Prioritization and Focus2.3.4. Tradeoffs, Judgment and Balance in

Resolution2.4. PERSONAL SKILLS AND ATTITUDES

2.4.1. Initiative and Willingness to TakeRisks

2.4.2. Perseverance and Flexibility2.4.3. Creative Thinking2.4.4. Critical Thinking2.4.5. Awareness of One’s Personal

Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes2.4.6. Curiosity and Lifelong Learning2.4.7. Time and Resource Management

2.5. PROFESSIONAL SKILLS ANDATTITUDES

2.5.1. Professional Ethics, Integrity,Responsibility and Accountability

2.5.2. Professional Behavior2.5.3. Proactively Planning for One’s Career2.5.4. Staying Current on World of Engineer

3 INTERPERSONAL SKILLS: TEAMWORK ANDCOMMUNICATION3.1. TEAMWORK

3.1.1. Forming Effective Teams3.1.2. Team Operation3.1.3. Team Growth and Evolution3.1.4. Leadership3.1.5. Technical Teaming

3.2. COMMUNICATION3.2.1. Communication Strategy3.2.2. Communication Structure3.2.3. Written Communication3.2.4. Electronic/Multimedia Communication3.2.5. Graphical Communication3.2.6. Oral Presentation and Interpersonal

Communication

3.3. COMMUNICATION IN FOREIGNLANGUAGES

3.3.1. English3.3.2. Languages within the European Union3.3.3. Languages outside the European

Union

4 CONCEIVING, DESIGNING, IMPLEMENTINGAND OPERATING SYSTEMS IN THEENTERPRISE AND SOCIETAL CONTEXT4.1. EXTERNAL AND SOCIETAL CONTEXT

4.1.1. Roles and Responsibility of Engineers4.1.2. The Impact of Engineering on Society4.1.3. Society’s Regulation of Engineering4.1.4. The Historical and Cultural Context4.1.5. Contemporary Issues and Values4.1.6. Developing a Global Perspective

4.2. ENTERPRISE AND BUSINESS CONTEXT4.2.1. Appreciating Different Enterprise

Cultures4.2.2. Enterprise Strategy, Goals and

Planning4.2.3. Technical Entrepreneurship4.2.4. Working Successfully in Organizations

4.3. CONCEIVING AND ENGINEERINGSYSTEMS

4.3.1. Setting System Goals andRequirements

4.3.2. Defining Function, Concept andArchitecture

4.3.3. Modeling of System and EnsuringGoals Can Be Met

4.3.4. Development Project Management4.4. DESIGNING

4.4.1. The Design Process4.4.2. The Design Process Phasing and

Approaches4.4.3. Utilization of Knowledge in Design4.4.4. Disciplinary Design4.4.5. Multidisciplinary Design4.4.6. Multi-objective Design

4.5. IMPLEMENTING4.5.1. Designing the Implementation Process4.5.2. Hardware Manufacturing Process4.5.3. Software Implementing Process4.5.4. Hardware Software Integration4.5.5. Test, Verification, Validation and

Certification4.5.6. Implementation Management

4.6. OPERATING4.6.1. Designing and Optimizing Operations4.6.2. Training and Operations4.6.3. Supporting the System Lifecycle4.6.4. System Improvement and Evolution4.6.5. Disposal and Life-End Issues4.6.6. Operations Management

BEST PRACTICE

STANDARD TWO

Specific, detailed learning outcomes for personal and interpersonal skills, and product, process, and system building skills, as well as disciplinary knowledge, consistent with program goals and validated by program stakeholders

• “Resolves” tensions among stakeholders• Allows for the design of curriculum• Basis of student evaluation• Tells us what to teach

THE CDIO SYLLABUS IN OTHER LANGUAGES

THE CDIO SYLLABUS IN OTHER LANGUAGES

ROLE OF CDIO SYLLABUS IN EDUCATION

• Captures the expressed needs of program stakeholders

• Highlights the overall goals of the program

• Provides a guide for the design of curriculum

• Suggests appropriate teaching and learning methods

• Provides the targets for student learning assessment

• Serves as a framework for overall program evaluation

The CDIO SYLLABUS is a reference, not a prescription!

ALIGNMENT WITH PROGRAM MISSION

Mission Vision ProgramObjectives

ValuesIntended Learning

Outcomes

CONSTRUCTIVE ALIGNMENT WITH TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT

What shouldstudents know orbe able to do as aresult of thecourse?

How can studentsdemonstrate that theyhave acquired thedesired levels ofcompetencies?

What activities areappropriate for

students in order todevelop the desired

competencies?

Teachingand learning

activitiesAssessment

Intendedlearningoutcomes

PRESSURES FOR CHANGETO THE CDIO SYLLABUS

• New knowledge taxonomies, e.g., UNESCO

• New scholarship• National accreditation and

evaluation standardso ABET (US)o CEAB (Canada)o UK-SPECo Swedish Ordinanceo EUR-ACEo DOCET

• Input from CDIO Syllabus users

EXAMPLES OF PROPOSED CHANGES

Inference from comparisons with national documents1.0 -- Change to Disciplinary or Subject-Based Knowledge and Reasoning

(Swedish Ordinance and EUR-ACE)

1.1 -- Add Mathematics (ABET)

1.3 -- Add Methods and Tools (ABET and CEAB)

2.1 -- Change to Analytical Reasoning and Problem Solving (ABET and CEAB)

2.2 -- Add Investigation to the title (CEAB)

2.5.1 -- Change to Ethics, Integrity, and Social Responsibility (ABET and CEAB)

2.5.2 -- Add Professional Responsibility (ABET)

2.5.5 – Add Equity and Diversity (CEAB)

3.1.5 -- Add Multidisciplinary Teaming (ABET and CEAB)

3.4.1 -- Add Inquiry, Listening and Dialogue (CEAB)

4.1 -- Add Economic Context (UK-SPEC)

4.2.5 -- Add part Engineering Project Finance and Economics (CEAB)

4.3.1 -- Add Understanding Needs (ABET and CEAB)

4.3.4 -- Add Systems Engineering (CEAB)

4.4.6 – Modify to indicate Safety (CEAB)

Changes to clarify and use consistent language

INNOVATION

• Innovation is the development and introduction into the market of new goods and services

• Innovation is the market-oriented view of what in the CDIO Syllabus defines in Sections 4.2 through 4.6 – Conceiving and Engineering Systems, Designing, Implementing, and Operating, within an enterprise

• Inference from innovation• 4.0 -- Add Innovation to the title• 4.2.2 -- Change to Enterprise Stakeholders, Strategy and Goals• 4.2.5 -- Add Engineering Project Finance and Economics• 4.2.6 -- Add New Technology Development, Assessment and

Infusion• 4.3.1 -- Change to Understanding Needs and Setting Goals

• Mostly clarification and modest addition of topics to include more business and upstream considerations

SUSTAINABILITY

• CDIO Syllabus has received some criticism, as sustainability is mentioned in only one place, at the fourth level of detail, under 4.4.6

• However, CDIO Syllabus actually strongly aligned with concepts of sustainability: lifecycle considerations of requirements, design, operations, retirement

• Inference from sustainability4.0 -- Include Environmental in the title

4.1 -- Include Environmental in the title

4.1.7 -- Add Sustainability and the Need for Sustainable Development

4.4.6 -- Make Design for Sustainability more explicit

4.5.1 -- Change to Designing a Sustainable Implementation Process

4.6.1 -- Change to Designing and Optimizing Sustainable and Safe Operations

• Mostly to clarify and increase visibility

OTHER PROPOSED CHANGES

• Various universities identified other areas that could be improved or better explained

• Comparison with Five E model of Group T, Leuven, Belgium• Additional inferences from these inputs

2.4.6 -- Add Educating Others

2.4.8 -- Add Knowledge Integration (Ensembling)

2.5.1 -- Change to Ethics, Integrity, and Social Responsibility

3.4 -- Add new listing Informal Communication to include:

3.4.1 Inquiry, Listening, and Dialogue

3.4.2 Negotiation, Compromise and Conflict Resolution

3.4.3 Advocacy

3.4.4 Establishing diverse Connections (Grouping)

•  These are mostly new additions

PROPOSED CDIO SYLLABUS v2.1

Changes other than clarification:

• Reorganize 2.4 to elevate critical and creative thinking

• Add more emphasis on personal resources

• Expand core personal values

PROPOSED CDIO SYLLABUS v2.1

Changes other than clarification:

• Add multi-disciplinary teaming

• Add section on informal communication

PROPOSED CDIO SYLLABUS v2.0

Changes other than clarification:

• Make sustainability more visible

• Add more upstream process

• Make system engineering and project management more explicit

LEADERSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

LEADERSHIP

The role of helping to organize effort, create vision, and facilitate the work of others

In the context of engineering, senior engineers are the ones who most often lead

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The specific activity of creating and leading a new enterprise

OVERLAP OF CDIO SYLLABUS, LEADERSHIP AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• CDIO Syllabus already contains skills of a leading engineer

• What additional skills are needed of an engineering leader?

• What additional skills are needed of an entrepreneur?

We propose and extension to the CDIO Syllabus to include, as an option, ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP and

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PROPOSED CDIO + ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP SYLLABUS

• Reference Core Personal Values, Relating, and Making Sense in the CDIO Syllabus

• Expand Creating a Purposeful Vision

• Expand Realizing the Vision

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ENTREPRENEURS who are engineers know how to conceive, design, implement and operate products processes and systems, and often act as engineering leaders

In addition, they have special skills associated with the foundation and formulation of a new enterprise:4.8.1 -- Company Founding, Formulation, and Organization

4.8.2 – Business Plan Development

4.8.3 -- Company Capitalization and Finances

4.8.4 -- Innovative Product Marketing

4.8.5 -- Conceiving Products and Services Around New Technologies

4.8.6 – The Innovation System, Networks, Infrastructure, and Services

4.8.7 -- Building the Team and Initiating Engineering Processes (conceiving, designing, implementing and operating)

4.8.8 -- Managing Intellectual Property

SUMMARY

• Setting the education of engineers in the CONTEXT OF ENGINEERING PRACTICE

• Increases retention of new knowledge and skills• Interconnects concepts and knowledge that build on

each other• Communicates the rationale for, and meaning and

relevance of what students are learning• THE CDIO SYLLABUS

• Captures the expressed needs of program stakeholders• Guides curriculum, teaching, learning, and assessment

• A modified CDIO SYLLABUS, V. 2.0 is proposed to• Clarify existing learning outcomes• Highlight innovation, sustainability, leadership, and

entrepreneurship

HOW CAN WE DO BETTER?

Re-task current assets and resources in:

• Curriculum• Laboratories and workspaces• Teaching and learning• Assessment and evaluation• Faculty competence

Evolve to a model in which these resources are better employed to promote student learning

THE CDIO STANDARDS: EFFECTIVE PRACTICE FRAMWORK

1. CDIO as Context*Adoption of the principle that product and system lifecycle development and deployment are the context for engineering education 2. CDIO Syllabus Outcomes*Specific, detailed learning outcomes for personal, interpersonal, and product and system building skills, consistent with program goals and validated by program stakeholders 3. Integrated Curriculum*A curriculum designed with mutually supporting disciplinary subjects, with an explicit plan to integrate personal, interpersonal, and product and system building skills4. Introduction to EngineeringAn introductory course that provides the framework for engineering practice in product and system building, and introduces essential personal and interpersonal skills 5. Design-Build Experiences*A curriculum that includes two or more design-build experiences, including one at a basic level and one at an advanced level6. CDIO WorkspacesWorkspaces and laboratories that support and encourage hands-on learning of product and system building, disciplinary knowledge, and social learning

7. Integrated Learning Experiences*Integrated learning experiences that lead to the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, as well as personal, interpersonal, and product and system building skills8. Active LearningTeaching and learning based on active experiential learning methods9. Enhancement of Faculty CDIO Skills*Actions that enhance faculty competence in personal, interpersonal, and product and system building skills10. Enhancement of Faculty Teaching SkillsActions that enhance faculty competence in providing integrated learning experiences, in using active experiential learning methods, and in assessing student learning11. CDIO Skills Assessment*Assessment of student learning in personal, interpersonal, and product and system building skills, as well as in disciplinary knowledge12. CDIO Program EvaluationA system that evaluates programs against these 12 standards, and provides feedback to students, faculty, and other stakeholders for the purposes of continuous improvement

*essential

INTRODUCTORY COURSE

• To motivate students to study engineering

• To provide early exposure to system building

• To teach some early and essential skills (e.g., teamwork)

• To provide a set of personal experiences which will allow early fundamentals to be more deeply understood

Disciplines

Intro

Capstone

Sciences

44

• Self-efficacy is the specific confidence that you have that you can execute a task

• With successful performance of tasks, self-efficacy increases and encourages the individual to take on tasks of greater difficulty, which increases self-efficacy further

• Performance and self are closely correlated

• Self-efficacy, which can be easily measured, is a good basis of pre/post test assessment

• Success with early PBL experiences increases student self-efficacy in engineering skills and increases student motivation to take on more advanced engineering tasks

Self-efficacy

Intention & Action

Performance

Self-efficacy

Performance

Self-efficacy

SELF-EFFICACY BASED ASSESSMENT

ARE WE DOING BETTER?

• The CDIO approach has deepened, not diminished, students’ understanding of engineering disciplinary knowledge

• Annual surveys of graduating students indicate that they have developed intended CDIO program knowledge and skills outcomes, especially are those that are important to program stakeholders

• Student self-report data indicate high student satisfaction with design-implement experiences, and with workspaces that promote a sense of community among learners

• Longitudinal studies of students in CDIO programs are showing increases in program enrollment, decreasing failing rates, particularly among female students, and increased student satisfaction with their learning experiences

• Employers are beginning to report increased capabilities improvements in student adaptation to the workplace

• Results are being used for continuous program improvement

EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Typical:• Professor identifies need• Gets idea• Not familiar with

literature or other practice

• Tries something• It works • Is replaced or gets tired• Back to status quo

Improved:• University/Industry team

identifies need• Idea developed • Informed by literature and

other practice• Parallel experimentation• Good evaluation • Recognition and reward• Institutionalized reform

Transformation requires: resources, coordination, expertise, mechanism for sharing

CDIO RESOURCES

• Published papers and conference presentations

• Implementation support

• Support for change process

• Book: Rethinking Engineering Education - The CDIO Approach (Amazon.com)

• Local and regional workshops -Delft in November 2009, Brest in Spring 2010

• CDIO International Workshop and Conference – Montreal in June 2010

Visit www.cdio.org!

EFFECTIVE PRACTICE: RE-TASK CURRICULUM

• Standard 4: Begin with an introductory course that provides a framework for engineering education and introduces essential skills

• Standard 5: Ensure that students participate in two or more design-implement experiences, including one at a basic level and one at and advanced level

EFFECTIVE PRACTICE: RE-TASK ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

• Standard 11: Assess student knowledge and skills in personal, interpersonal, and product, process and system building, as well as disciplinary knowledge

Portfolios and project assessment Oral exams Concept questions Self-efficacy based testing

• Standard 12: Evaluate programs against these twelve standards, and provide continuous feedback to students, faculty, and other stakeholders for continuous improvement