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As students make the transition from the university to the In the work environment, being organized can greatly
workplace, it is important for them to recognize that their assist one’s development. This includes organizing one’s
employability in the modern global economy is rooted in their office and personal computer so that they support daily work
ability to adapt to a variety of different job requirements activities. It is also very important to organize physical and
throughout their careers. Those who can best display such computer filing systems to maximize efficient retrieval of
lifelong learning competence are likely to be most successful. information. Developing abilities to share information with
Today, individual employees are expected to show initiative, colleagues is beneficial to one’s PDP and future success.
independence, and critical thinking skills. To be competent is
to be able to learn to adapt and respond to new situations i.e. to For practicing engineers, is important to improve key
continue to learn throughout one’s life [11]. One who competencies such as the following: oral presentations, writing
possesses professional competency has knowledge, skills, reports and memos, organizing meetings, interpersonal
attitude and values necessary to practice a profession, can relations, project management and planning and budgeting,
solve professional problems in an independent and flexible among others. Reading technical literature is one of the most
way, and has the capability to collaborate in his/her effective ways to keep current.
professional environment, using and transmitting information
to others. Working in collaborative groups with colleagues who are
interested in the same subject can also help with professional
Lifelong learning is particularly important for complex development. In collaborative work, all team members share
fields with rapid technological change such as engineering. their efforts to achieve the team’s goal, contribute to solve
Engineering leaders have recognized this and included lifelong problems, improve work, and innovate. Such collaborations
learning in the ABET accreditation outcomes that graduates of provide valuable synergies.
To improve competence on the job, Meredith Part I: Lifelong Learning Competencies Development
recommends seeking out and working on challenging leading- The outline of this presentation of the theory of lifelong
edge projects. By identifying resources, one can find data and learning based on the material in Section II was
information for future projects. Advice from experts can be
very valuable. Engineers should seek out mentors including 1. Introduction and USD Goals
previous professors and colleagues. 2. Lifelong Learning Concept
3. Competence Concept
To be current, it is important to join relevant technical 4. Key Competencies
professional societies. For engineers, this includes societies 5. Summary: Intentional Lifelong Learning
such as the IEEE, the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME) [24] and the Society of Women Engineers Part II. Active learning exercise
(SWE) [25]. Professional organizations offer many
opportunities to network with other professionals and to attend
For Part II, the students performed a think-pair-share
technical and professional development activities (i.e.
exercise using the worksheet shown in Figure 5. Students
conferences, meetings) as well as tutorials to learn about
related key competencies for LLL to what they have learned
emerging technologies and other technical topics. during their career at USD. This was intended to help them
articulate the LLL that is imbedded in the academic
In summary, lifelong learning requires engineers to take curriculum and take responsibility for their personal and
responsibility for their own development, and developing professional development.
habits to improve learning effectiveness.
Part III. Lifelong Learning for Engineers
IV. A LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAM FOR ENGINEERS The third part of the workshop was about specific
STUDENTS competencies working as an engineer, related to generic or key
competencies. The outline of this presentation followed
Important information about lifelong learning Meredith’s book as described in Section III:
competencies and specific recommendations for engineers
were used to design the “Lifelong Learning Program for 1. The Importance of Lifelong Learning
Engineers Students”. To enhance student learning, an active 2. Plan for Continuing Professional Development
learning exercise was also included [26]. Unlike other 3. Organize Your Work Environment
approaches, this program focused on helping students to learn 4. Working as an Engineer
about the concept of lifelong learning and to be better able to 5. Enhance Your Competencies On-the-Job
demonstrate their lifelong learning skills developed throughout 6. Improve your Learning Process
their undergraduate curriculum. More information about this 7. Graduate School?
program is available in [27]. 8. Memberships in Professional Societies
9. Summary: Lifelong learning never ends.
The program was delivered as a 1.5 hour workshop in
April 2011 to the 21 students enrolled in ELEC 492, Electrical V. EVALUATION OF THE PROGRAM EFFICACY AND
Engineering Design and Practice II, a senior design course for STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION
electrical and mechanical engineering students at the A. Evaluation Methods
University of San Diego (USD). This course was chosen by
the USD Electrical Engineering faculty to provide
The evaluation of the program efficacy, students’
demonstration materials for ABET assessment, faculty review, satisfaction, and impact was done using a mixed-methods
and program improvement. Specifically, students must
approach with statistical analysis of Likert-scaled questions on
demonstrate achievement of most ABET outcomes including
pre- and post-surveys as well as content analysis of open-
lifelong learning via a portfolio. Thus this course was an
ended questions on the surveys and on the students’ portfolios.
appropriate place to implement the “Lifelong Learning
Since there were only 21 students in our study, analysis of the
Competencies for Engineers” program. The program was
qualitative data is particularly important to add validity to the
offered a week before the deadline for students to submit a
quantitative results [28].
draft of their portfolio and consisted of three parts: Part I - a
presentation on lifelong learning competencies development,
Part II - an active learning exercise, and Part III - a B. Results of Data Analysis and Discussion
presentation on lifelong learning competencies for engineers
based on the topics from Meredith’s book. 1. Quantitative Analysis: Likert-scaled survey questions