Engineers make a world of difference and help shape our future. They creatively collaborate to create the technologies that improve our health, happiness, and safety. In addition to contributing to the ubiquitous engineered technologies that make our lives safer, more enjoyable, and more productive, many engineers also use their incredibly transferable skillsets to contribute to social good. The March 2…
For many, the ultimate goal is to use their skillsets or degree to help others or change the world. Many students feel that this doesn’t need to wait, that they can use what they know now to help their communities, and they have many creative and innovative ways to do this. Join us Wednesday, February 24 at 8pm ET using…
What Does a Reflective Engineer look like? Engineers are doers. When we see something that needs changing, our first instinct is to act. And that is a wonderful thing. But engineers are also sometimes criticized as being automatons. The claim is that we coldly react without thinking beyond our own small realm of technical expertise. Deep and broad thinking can…
Ep. 27 -Student Power and Light: Hidden Keys to Transforming Higher Ed When conversations turn to reforming or transforming higher education, weighty tomes are written, groups of faculty & administrators assemble, and new plans are made and executed, often without consulting or involving a single student. In recent times, business has gotten better at listening to the "voice of the…
Design thinking. Makerspaces. Sustainability. Lean Thinking. T-Shaped Professionals. Grand Challenge Scholars. Engineering education is transforming, utilizing all the movements listed above to engage students, improve outcomes, and move away from calcified lecture formats. All these movements seem separate - a choice that faculty have to make from a menu of options. But what if these movements had something in common;…
Ep. 26 - Podcasting and Social Media as Continuing Higher Education: A Conversation with Jeff Shelton Technology has opened many doors to new kinds of educational media. Podcasts and live internet radio, such as Big Beacon Radio, are among these relatively new kinds of media, and in this episode, host Dave Goldberg interviews Jeff Shelton, producer and co-host of The Engineering…
Ep. 25 -Creativity and Innovation in Higher Education: A Conversation with Stu Walesh We live in a time of great bounty in the social sciences and neurosciences in which once mysteries of the mind are being revealed in greater detail in ways that can be acted upon in both practical and educational settings. In this episode, host Dave Goldberg interviews…
Ep. 23 - Using Social Labs for Change In and Around Higher Education: A Case in Canada Social labs bring together stakeholders with different, even opposing, points of view in a practical effort to promote systemic change. Show host Dave Goldberg, recently witnessed one session of a social lab called the Engineering Change Lab in Toronto, Ontario that brought together…
Post contributed by Dr. Bryan Boulanger When I was little my father used to tell me, “If you want to know what you look like, look in the mirror. If you want to know who you are, look at your friends.” As I’ve grown older and my wife and I have had our own children, I’ve added “If you want…
Ep. 21 - Transformation in Higher Education 2015 in Review Higher education continues to face many challenges. Protests have increased on campus. Costs continue to rise. Enrollments continue to decline, and substantive change continues to elude much of the academy. In this show, host Dave Goldberg is joined by Mark Somerville of Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and Big…