Abstract
The world that is emerging based on the development and everyday use of new technologies is a world that can be described as close, crowded and creative. Studies have highlighted that traditional curricula and pedagogical methods for engineering education are deficient in terms of developing and nurturing key skills required by engineers to succeed in this world. The challenge for the engineering academic leaders of today is to begin with the end in mind: to begin with a description of the competences that the engineer of the future should have in order to succeed in their aspirations as an engineer and then to reverse engineer both the curriculum and pedagogical approaches to enable the desired outcome. This chapter describes what is meant by a close, crowded and creative world: the world in which engineering graduates must learn to practise. It then proposes three different possible scenarios for the world of 2030 and discusses the key skills that engineers in 2030 should possess in order to succeed as engineers. This chapter concludes with recommendations on how to address the challenges of educating engineers for a close, crowded and creative world.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
ABET. 2010. Criteria for accrediting engineering programs. Baltimore: ABET.
Bowser, J. 2011. Strategic co-opetition: The value of relationships in the networked economy. Available online: http://www-935.ibm.com/services/uk/index.wss/multipage/igs/ibvstudy/a1008082/1?cntxt=a1006870. Accessed 29 Apr 2011.
Drucker, P. 2001. The next society. The Economist, November 1. Available online: http://www.economist.com/node/770819. Accessed 29 Apr 2011.
EC. 2006 The accreditation of higher education programmes: UK standard for professional engineering competence. Published by Engineering Council.
EI. 2007. Accreditation criteria for engineering education programmes. Engineers Ireland, March 2007.
Friedman, T.L. 2006. The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
IOT. 2011. Level 8 engineering graduate research study. DIT and Institutes of Technology, June 2011.
Krawczyk, E. 2010. Futures thinking in city planning processes: The case of Dublin. Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing.
Krawczyk, E., and P. Ronchetti. 2009. Dublin at the crossroads: Exploring the future of the Dublin City Region. Dublin: TFA. Available online: http://www.thefuturesacademy.ie/node/117. Accessed 12 Apr 2011.
Morell, L., and J. DeBoer. 2010. The engineering professor of 2020: The forgotten variable. In ASEE annual conference, June 2010, Louisville, KY.
NAE. 2004. The engineer of 2020: Visions of engineering in the new century. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Ratcliffe, J. 2005. Imagineering Ireland: Future scenarios for 2030. Dublin: TFA.
Ratcliffe, J. 2009. Navigating unchartered waters: The use of strategic foresight and scenarios in creating better built environment. Presentation. Available online: http://thefuturesacademy.ie/node/160. Accessed 15 Apr 2011.
Spencer, B. 2002. Introduction to the special issue on Agent Technologies for Electronic Commerce. NRC Publications Archive. Available online: http://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/npsi/ctrl?action=shwart&index=an&req=5763779&lang=en. Accessed 26 Apr 2011.
TFA. 2008. Twice the size? Imagineering the future of Irish gateways. Dublin: TFA. Available online: http://www.thefuturesacademy.ie/node/63. Accessed 20 Apr 2011.
Wheeler, S. 2001. Information and communication technologies and the changing role of the teacher. Learning, Media and Technology 26(1): 7–17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Krawczyk, E., Murphy, M. (2012). The Challenge of Educating Engineers for a Close, Crowded and Creative World. In: Christensen, S., Mitcham, C., Li, B., An, Y. (eds) Engineering, Development and Philosophy. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5282-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5282-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-5281-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-5282-5
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)