Gen Ed Reflection

Chance Webster

11/8/20

Introduction

The general education courses I took were psychology, sociology, and a leadership course. The
psychology course interpreted how people act by analyzing the mind. Sociology, however,
analyzes how people change depending on who they are around, meaning their friends, family,
teachers, etc. The leadership course gave incite to how to lead in the most effective way. Each
one of these general education courses taught a variety of information that has links to solving
engineering problems.

Body

Psychology and sociology are very similar in what they teach, but the perspective of each one is
different. Psychology looks at the individual and sociology observes the group of people before
looking at the individual. Each one of these courses can connect with the solving engineering
problems because one of the first steps in designing for a customer is understanding who the
customers are and what they need. These ideologies can help to understand exactly what is
needed for the customer by looking at the individuals and the groups of people that will use the
product.

The leadership course taught many great concepts for leaders in general but also in engineering.
The main concept that was taught was that a great leader understands the strengths and
weaknesses of the team so they can utilize everyone’s strengths for the common goal. This
concept could help many engineering teams to be more effective in there design because if they
divide the work so everyone is working on strengths they will increase productivity. Currently,
leadership is not taken as seriously as it should be in most teams. A lot of people nowadays
believe they do not need a leader because they can do it on their own, however, leadership is
necessary to keep people in check and to increase productivity.
Conclusion

In conclusion, each one of these general education courses taught very valuable information that
could be used in any field. Psychology and sociology observe how and why people act by
looking at both the individual and the group of people. The leadership course teaches the most
effective ways to lead and explains just how important a good leader is to a project. All of these
courses will help with solving engineering problems and most importantly help to understand the
best way to work with a team.