Doris R. Brodeur

Rethinking Engineering Education

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2007, 2014. This book describes an approach to engineering education that integrates a comprehensive set of personal, interpersonal, and professional engineering skills with engineering disciplinary knowledge in order to prepare innovative and entrepreneurial engineers. The education of engineers is set in the context of engineering practice, that is, Conceiving, Designing, Implementing, and Operating (CDIO) through the entire lifecycle of engineering processes, products, and systems. The book is both a description of the development and implementation of the CDIO model and a guide to engineering programs worldwide that seek to improve the education of young engineers.

Adoption of active learning in a lecture-based engineering class

Three years ago, the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT expanded its repertoire of active learning strategies and assessment tools with the introduction of muddiest-point-in-the-lecture cards, electronic response systems, concept tests, peer coaching, course web pages, and web-based course evaluations. This paper focuses on the change process of integrating these active learning strategies into a traditional lecture-based multidisciplinary course, called unified engineering. The description of the evolution of active learning in unified engineering is intended to underscore the motivation and incentives required for bringing about the change, and the support needed for sustaining and disseminating active learning approaches among the instructors.

Using concept maps and concept questions to enhance conceptual understanding

Conceptual understanding is the ability to apply knowledge across a variety of instances or circumstances. Several strategies can be used to teach and assess concepts, e.g., inquiry, exposition, analogies, mnemonics, imagery, concept maps, and concept questions. This paper focuses on the last two -concept maps and concept questions. Concept maps are two-dimensional, hierarchical diagrams that show the structure of knowledge within a discipline. Concept questions are questions posed to students to encourage higher order thinking and help them understand the basic principles of a discipline. This paper describes current progress at MIT in the development and use of concept maps and concept questions in aerospace engineering.

Rethinking engineering education - The CDIO approach, 2nd ed

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2007, 2014. This book describes an approach to engineering education that integrates a comprehensive set of personal, interpersonal, and professional engineering skills with engineering disciplinary knowledge in order to prepare innovative and entrepreneurial engineers. The education of engineers is set in the context of engineering practice, that is, Conceiving, Designing, Implementing, and Operating (CDIO) through the entire lifecycle of engineering processes, products, and systems. The book is both a description of the development and implementation of the CDIO model and a guide to engineering programs worldwide that seek to improve the education of young engineers.

CDIO and Quality Assurance: Using the Standards for Continuous Program Improvement

The CDIO Initiative is a world-wide collaboration of engineering programs at universities in more than 16 countries in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Collaborators have developed a set of 12 standards, or best practices, that characterize the CDIO approach to engineering education and provide the basis for program evaluation. This standards-based program evaluation extends the evaluative criteria of ABET’s EC2000 and other outcomes-based approaches. Evidence of overall program value is collected from multiple sources, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Evidence and results, forming the basis of decisions about the program and its plans for continuous improvement, are important components of most Quality Assurance schemes.

Integrated Curriculum Design

We have now reached a transition point in our discussion. In Chap. 2, we posed the two central questions that any approach to improving engineering education must address

The CDIO Approach

The objective of engineering education is to educate students who are “ready to engineer,” that is, broadly prepared with both pre-professional engineering skills and deep knowledge of the technical fundamentals. It is the task of engineering educators to continuously improve the quality of undergraduate engineering education in order to meet this objective. Over the past 30 years, many in industry and government have tried to describe these desired outcomes in terms of attributes of engineering graduates. By examining these views, we identified an underlying need: to educate students to understand how to Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate complex value-added engineering products, processes and systems in a modern, team-based environment.

Adapting and Implementing a CDIO Approach

Adapting and implementing a CDIO approach can be of great value to educational programs and the students they serve. However, that means change—an inherently challenging endeavor, especially at a university. Program leaders are more likely to succeed in this change process if faculty are equipped with an understanding of how to bring about change and provided with relevant guidance and resources.

Rethinking engineering education : The CDIO approach, second edition

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2007, 2014. This book describes an approach to engineering education that integrates a comprehensive set of personal, interpersonal, and professional engineering skills with engineering disciplinary knowledge in order to prepare innovative and entrepreneurial engineers. The education of engineers is set in the context of engineering practice, that is, Conceiving, Designing, Implementing, and Operating (CDIO) through the entire lifecycle of engineering processes, products, and systems. The book is both a description of the development and implementation of the CDIO model and a guide to engineering programs worldwide that seek to improve the education of young engineers.

Historical Accounts of Engineering Education

When engaging in the reform of engineering education, it is important to understand its historical context. For more than 150 years, educational institutions have played a major role in shaping the skills and professional identities of engineers.