In developing its new engineering accreditation criteria, ABET reaffirmed a set of “hard” engineering skills while introducing a second, equally important, set of six “professional” skills. These latter skills include communication, teamwork, and understanding ethics and professionalism, which we label process skills, and engineering within a global and societal context, lifelong learning, and a knowledge of contemporary issues, which we designate as awareness skills. We review these skills with an emphasis on how they can be taught, or more correctly learned, citing a number of examples of successful and/or promising implementations. We then examine the difficult issue of assessing these skills. We are very positive about a number of creative ways that these skills are being learned, particularly at institutions that are turning to global and/or service learning in combination with engineering design projects to teach and reinforce outcome combinations. We are also encouraged by work directed at assessing these skills, but recognize that there is considerable research that remains to be done.

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The ABET “Professional Skills” — Can They Be Taught? Can They Be Assessed?

CONCLUSIONS This paper’s theoretical contribution is an emergent educational theory of informed design that identifies key performance dimensions relevant to K–16 engineering and STEM educational contexts. Practical contributions include the Informed Design Teaching and Learning Matrix, which is fashioned to help teachers do informed teaching with design tasks while developing their own design pedagogical content knowledge.

The Informed Design Teaching and Learning Matrix

Two studies related to readiness for self-directed learning of engineering students were performed using the Self-directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS). A cross-sectional study of students in the first through final years of study showed that their SDLRS scores are significantly correlated with academic year of study and with grade point average, but not with gender. However, neither academic year of study nor grade point average is a good predictor of SDLRS scores; together they account for less than 5 percent of the observed variance. A second study investigated the effect of a problem-based learning experience on students' readiness for self-directed learning. It showed that the average readiness for self-directed learning increased significantly for students in the problem-based learning courses. However, investigation of the changes for individual students revealed that only nine of eighteen students showed significant increases in their SDLRS scores, and two showed significant decreases. Potential underlying causes are explored.

Self-directed Learning Readiness Among Engineering Undergraduate Students

The latter part of the twentieth century has witnessed an unprecedented economic, social, and technological change in many regions of the world. Perhaps, no region has experienced as dramatic a change as the states of the Arab Gulf region, referred to as the Arab Gulf States. These six neighboring states (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and The Sultanate of Oman) share common heritage, history, and language. Oil is the Region’s most valuable natural asset and production and revenues have increased dramatically in recent years, most notably since OPEC price rise in 1973.

Engineering Education In The Arab Gulf States: Stagnation Versus Change

This paper focuses on “viable teaching-learning” protocols for potential adoption by educators in the Arab Gulf States, seeking to improve their classroom effectiveness. It was inspired by remarks and suggestions made by a number of engineering graduates, who have experienced “negative” aspects of the “classroom environment” as students in the Gulf Region. The paper dwells on those strategies, believed to be appropriate for the development of a “positive teaching-learning” environment; and in particular, those activities that are more relevant to the Arab Gulf States. Strategies pertaining to:(i) planning courses, (ii) conducting courses, and(iii) developing positive learning environment, in and outside the classroom, are discussed and supplemented with general advice and suggestions based on the experience of the author. It is also argued that “reformation” and “active learning” ought to start within the public school systems of the Region, where existing “traditional” teaching methods tend to suppress independent thinking, and have failed in equipping students with the desired traits and analytical skills deemed necessary for students who wish to get into engineering. The paper also examines the potential role that industry in the Region could play in “shaping” engineering education, and demanding that “reformation” ought to include a shift toward industrial relevance. The essay asserts that colleges of engineering in the Arab Gulf States should aspire for setting up and sustaining a principled, dynamic, and forward-looking educational framework that fosters constant renewal and is in tune with prevailing social and cultural realities. Alongside, a more liberal classroom setting that features active learning, care, and strives to accommodate students varied learning styles.

Improving The Classroom Environment: With A Focus On The Arab Gulf States

OF EN61NEERIN6 EDUCATION The Final Report of the Goals of Engineering Education study is published in the Journal of Engineering Education so that every member of the American Society for Engineering Education will have a copy and will be made aware of the importance of the report as it relates to trends for the future. It is also the hope of the Goals Committee that the report will generate constructive discussion. Eric A. Walker, Director of the Goals study, says, "This Final Report will remain on the desk of every engineering teacher for many years to come. Like the previous studies of engineering education, it will have an impact on curricula, staff, and students, as well as on industry and government, the employers of our graduates."

E. A. Walker

Papers

Goals of Engineering Education, Final Report of the Goals Committee.