Ep. 9 -The Making of a Documentary to Transform Higher Education: LET ME DO IT Transforming higher education from a culture of expertise and obedience to one that balances expertise and support is critical to unleashing courageous learners to the possibilities in the world and their lives. But the shift required is large, and transforming the master narrative of education…
Job Opportunity in Lima, Peru! UTEC (Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología) is looking for a Director of their Learning Center. Requirements Ph.D degree in Engineering, Higher Education or in related fields. Five or more years of combined experience in the industry or learning centers is required. Engineering background would be preferable, but exceptional candidates from other fields will also be…
Ep. 6 -Lessons from 'A Whole New Engineer' for the Transformation of Higher Education When educators think about transforming higher education they almost immediately start with modifications in content, curriculum, and pedagogy, but a recent book suggests that this approach is fundamentally flawed. Join the writing team of A Whole New Engineer: The Coming Revolution in Engineering Education, Mark Somerville…
Ep. 4 -The Lassonde School and the Education of Renaissance Professionals After years of relative stability in higher education, a small number of engineering schools are emerging around the world to forge a new vision of what it means to be a professional. In this episode host Dave Goldberg interviews Janusz Kozinski, founding dean of one of the newest engineering…
Ep. 3 - John Kotter: Leading Change in Higher Education Organizations are facing unprecedented calls for change, higher education included, yet leading change in established organizations is a daunting task. One of the keenest architects and practitioners of effective change leadership processes and practices is John Kotter, Harvard Business School professor emertitus and Chairman of Kotter International. In this episode,…
Big Beacon's latest endeavor to spread the word about transforming higher education is Big Beacon Radio, a monthly broadcast on Voice America. Listen here, or subscribe on iTunes. The first episode featuring Olin College's Rick Miller is available here.
If engineering education is going to change, then that change needs to be advocated by the students who will make up the future of engineering. Meet Athena Lin, an undergraduate engineering student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who is doing just that. How did you first get involved with Big Beacon? Last June, I came across Dave’s writings about engineering…
Join BB Innovators & Innovations host Dave Goldberg on Tuesday, 14 April 2015 at 9:00 am ET for a live Google On-Air Hangout (link here) with Catelijne Coopmans and Kelvin Pang as they discuss the use of coaching at Tembusu College at the National University of Singapore. The Tembusu website (here) describes the program as follows: Tembusu College is one of four residential colleges at…
Today, Kate MacArthur of the Blue Sky blog of the Chicago Tribune posted an interview with Big Beacon president Dave Goldberg. In it Goldberg was quoted as saying: What do we want today? We want the next Steve Jobs. We want young people that are courageous. We need to move from a university system that demands obedience of its young…
Over the last few decades, much time and energy has gone toward reform efforts in engineering education. This work has yielded a great deal of insight into the relative effectiveness of different teaching approaches, and has led to calls for the adoption of experimentally validated pedagogies in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). What the work hasn’t addressed as much, though, is one key fundamental question: What are the underlying values in engineering education?
We need to address values because they are critical for enabling real change in engineering education. After all, if you try to make a change in pedagogy or content without addressing the underlying value system, you are likely to fail, as value systems are the social equivalent of immune systems. Additionally, the values we hold greatly affect the experience students have, and, accordingly, who they become.
Following are four core values — or pillars for reform — we need to address when discussing engineering education.