an introduction to engineers competencies - 2012

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

Graduate engineering should have base

knowledge and methods

namely, adequate competency to entry in practice with:

a thorough understanding of the body of engineering knowledge relevant to their occupational category;

the ability to apply this knowledge to representative problems and situations, typical of the responsibilities of practitioners in that

category;

Competency is commonly defined in learning as

the ability to perform activities in an occupational category or function to the standard expected in employment.


Key-capabilities for engineering students

Bordogna (1997) quotes an US National Science Foundation (NSF, USA) report (published in 1989) which identified: integration, analysis, innovation

and synthesis, and contextual understanding as key-capabilities for

engineering students.

Furthermore, he states the essence of engineering is the process of integrating different forms of knowledge to some purpose and an

engineering student must experience the "functional core of engineering, the excitement of facing an open-ended challenge and creating something

that has never been.

Pursuing the improvement change should intrinsically be expertise of an engineer


..in order to successfully entry in practice

The National Academy of Engineers (NAE) suggests that the essence of engineering (i.e. the iterative process of designing, predicting

performance, building, and testing) should be taught from the earliest

stages of the curriculum.

Thus Rugarcia, Felder,Woods, & Stice (2000) proposed the following categories of necessary skills for engineers:

a. independent, interdependent and lifetime learning skills;

b. problem solving, critical and creative thinking skills;

c. interpersonal and teamwork skills;

d. communication skills;

e. self-assessment;

f. integrative and global thinking skills; and

g. Change-management skills.


What skills and attributes should be acquired by a graduate

engineer?

Engineering is not just applied science; it is as much about process as it is about technical knowledge.

An engineers task involves conceiving and designing products, processes, and systems, and to predict their behavior using science;

Scientists create models to understand natural phenomenon with

known outcomes, whereas engineers create models to predict

outcomes for systems.

Hoscette (2002) and Erlendsson (2001) have identified some workplace defects and leading causes of failures in engineering.

As per their observation, the major concerns are: passivity, non-

responsiveness, uncritical thinking, technical incompetence, inept or poor

communication skills, poor relations with the supervisor, inflexibility, poor

and lax working habits, and too much independence.


A Taxonomy of Core Competencies

There are great similarities in the competency set identified by accreditation agencies of US, UK, Australia, Japan, and Singapore.

ABET, Accreditation Board for

Engineering and

Technology (USA)

UK SPEC, UK Standard for

Professional Engineering

Competence

IES, Institute of Engineers

Singapore

EA ,Engineers Australia

JABEE, Japan Accreditation

Board for

EngineeringEducation


and the final results

The following list puts these competencies as per the order of importance:

a. Ability to apply knowledge

b. Design skills

c. Problem solving skills

d. Technical competence

e. Ability to work in multidisciplinary teams

f. Communication skills

g. Sensitivity towards global, societal, and environmental issues

h. Sensitivity towards ethical and professional issues

i. Readiness for life-long learning


The 5 Dimensions of Learning: act for applying meaningfully

knowledge

When learners extend and refine knowledge, they continue to acquire knowledge, and when they use knowledge meaningfully, they are still acquiring and extending knowledge

The 13 complex reasoning processes are not a list of skills, but only common tasks in which complex reasoning is exhibited

5.Habits of Minds

4.Attitudes and perceptions

1.Acquiring/ integrating Knowledge

2.Extending/refining Knowledge

3.Using knowledge

meaningfully

1.Decision making

2. Investigation

3. Experimental Inquiry

4. Problem Solving

5. Invention

6.Comparing

7. Classifing

8. Making induction

9. Making deduction

10. Analysing Errors

11. Creating/analysing support

12. Analyzing perspectives

13. Abstracting


Job knowledge content: an example

Career Description: Actor

Actors communicate an author's script to others by acting in a

creative and convincing fashion.

They entertain people through media such as theatre, film, radio

and television.

Their skills are used in to convey information to the audience in an

effective way.


What history teaches us, from an economic point of

view

is that:

the economic growth in the modern-era (starting from the Industrial Revolution) was possible since

it was self-sustained growth

the economic growth involved all the citizens and created mobility across various social strata


Social, material and capital resources are indispensable prerequisites to successful innovation

Many inventions have failed (not self-sustained) because the social resources vital for their realization (the capital, materials, and skilled

personnel) were not available.

The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are full of ideas for helicopters, submarines, and airplanes, but few of these in his period reached even the model stage because resources of one sort or another were lacking

Contextually, it is only from the 17 th Century with the Enlightment when we assisted such a scientific revolution that we associate with Galileo,

Descartes, Newton, Bacon and many other giants: that a profound

intellectual change occurred in Europe after the Dark Ages.

What the history teaches us, from a wider point of view


Humans thinking-changes prepared the Industrial Enligthment

Bacon in 1620 had famously defined technology by declaring that the control of humans over things depended on the accumulated knowledge about how

nature works.

Several natural philosophers in the Eighteenth Century were realizing main purpose of knowledge was to improve mankinds material condition: to do this, technology was playing fundamental role.

Until the Industrial Revolution (from middle 18 th to early 20 th Century), no science philosophers studies were applied meaningfully to develop artifacts and techniques, that system today we call technology.

Actually, with few exceptions, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and Issac Newton (1643-1727), no scientific philosophy had been reduced to quantitative law.


thanking to introduction of scientific meaning and reasoning

Basing on Newtons laws described Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (generally considered the birth of the modern mechanics), for example, it is even possible to model contemporary industrial machines involving a multiplicity of forces that works together to produce reaction (heat friction, inertia, expansion, stress, etc.)

The Industrial Enlightenment can be viewed as a movement that insisted on asking not just which techniques work but also why, realizing that such questions held the key to continuing progress and can be answered

successfully by governing the natural law of physics and chemistry

To govern the physics and chemistry (that is to govern natural things) human kind realized the scientific method evolved in the seventeenth Century was

being the solution.


There are three basic questions regarding how innovation

helps competition

Should the innovation process start from the market demand or by designing the technological solution?

If companies need to look primarily at demand-side, how do they pick up signals about changes in areas they dont normally research? How do they understand the needs of a market that doesnt exist yet?

If companies need to introduce new solutions on the market to create new demand, how do they confidently develop successful ideas with

minimum risks?


First of all, we need to understand basic concepts regardind sustained innovative processes for economic growth (=prosperity), through three basic questions: Did sustained innovation processes always exist?

If not, when did they start?

Why did they not start before?

In other words, we are interested in figuring out the sources can feed

sustained innovation processes for sustained growth.

We will answer later


What history teaches us, from an economic point of

view

is that:

the economic growth in the modern-era (starting from the Industrial Revolution) was possible since it was self-

sustained growth

the economic growth involved all the citizens and created mobility across various social strata

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cgkfk


Social, material and capital resources are indispensable prerequisites to successful innovation

Many inventions have failed (not self-sustained) because the social resources vital for their realization (the capital, materials, and skilled

personnel) were not available.

The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are full of ideas for helicopters, submarines, and airplanes, but few of these in his period reached even the model stage because resources of one sort or another were lacking

Contextually, it is only from the 17 th Century with the Enlightment when we assisted such a scientific revolution that we associate with Galileo,

Descartes, Newton, Bacon and many other giants: that a profound

intellectual change occurred in Europe after the Dark Ages.

What the history teaches us, from a wider point of view


Piano inclinato di Galileo: a) legge invariante che correla massa, angolo , tempo e velocit; b) forze agenti sulla massa che rotola lungo il piano inclinato.


The 3d edition of Global CEO Study from IBM

A collective wisdom points to an enterprise of the Future that is: hungry for change, innovative beyond customer imagination, globally integrated, disruptive by nature and genuine, not just generous.

The third edition of IBMs biennial Global CEO study series (ed.2008) was based on surveys of 1,130 CEOs, general managers and senior public sector and business leaders .

All of them viewed more demanding customers not as a threat, but as an opportunity to differentiate


Key-features of the enterprise of the future...

The enterprise of the future is

Hungry for change

It is capable of changing quickly and successfully. Instead of merely responding to trends, it shapes and leads them. Market and industry shifts are a chance to move ahead of the competition.

Innovative beyond customer imagination

The enterprise of the Future surpasses the expectations of increasingly demanding customers.

Globally integrated

It takes advantage of todays global economy, strategically designed to worldwide access the best capabilities, knowledge and assets

Disruptive by nature

Radically it challenges the business model, disrupting the basis of competition. Reinvents itself and its entire industry..

Genuine not just generous

It goes beyond philanthropy and compliance and reflects genuine concern for society in all actions and decisions.


Sustained innovation, that is success-innovation

competitive advantagesolutions

High Performing solutions

Customer satysfying solutions Self-sustained

innovative solution

(market success)

aggressive supplying (on-demand rough-solutions)

technical break-trough solutions

useful/friendly (high receptivity solutions)

an introduction to engineers competencies - 2012

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