Guest blog written by Scott Nichols Greetings Big Beacon community members and Twitter followers interested in reforming engineering education: Come join me, Scott Nichols, to discuss how student-centered vs. teacher-centered instruction may influence the quality of engineering programs. We will get started on Wednesday, October 8th at 8:00 pm, Eastern Time. As the global economy rapidly grows, more and more…
Big Beacon is entering into an exciting period of growth, and we are eager to kickoff this new season with our weekly #BigBeacon twitter chat on Wednesday, August 27 at 8 PM EST. Join us as we consider the meaning, vision, and direction of Big Beacon, with the conversation facilitated by our leaders: Founder Dave Goldberg, Erica Lee-Garcia, and Meagan…
At this time of year, thousands of post-secondary students around the world are enjoying the fruits of their many many hours of hard work and attending their graduation ceremonies. It's a fun time, a celebratory time, and a time for families to show their pride in their graduate's accomplishments. It's a time for students to emerge from the fog of…
In a new episode of The Engineering Commons Podcast, aeronautical engineer Clay Coons describes the most common types of engines, and the applications in which they are most appropriate. Learn the differences between spark-ignition, diesel, gas turbine, jet, and rocket engines. Mr. Coons also shares his philosophy on keeping cars running for at least 250,000 miles! Check out the The Engineering…
This post presents the topic of this week's #BigBeacon twitter chat - join us tomorrow, Wed May 7th at 8 pm EDT. I (@engineeryrlife) will be hosting the chat this week. All are welcome! One familiar practice in the engineering educational status quo is to swamp incoming students with work in order to get them to buckle down, get humble,…
Post written by Marc E. Chelala: In today’s global community, issues we commonly face have remained the same, while our understanding of them has broadened thereby increasing their complexity. Undoubtedly, it begs to question the role of the engineer in today’s society and how it needs to change along with our understanding of the world. Engineers may need to adapt their…
Guest Post by Rafael de Matos, Founder & President of LENGA, Regional Fellowship Director at Kairos Society Brazil Hello, my name is Rafael and I consider myself a serial entrepreneur. Since I was a child I have demonstrated a deep desire to move things from its places. One day I realized that I would like to be a superhero, so…
Design thinking, a methodology for human-centered problem solving, empowers its users to collaborate across disciplines and tackle the world’s biggest challenges. Students are asked to solve problems, but they must also learn to define the problems themselves by working closely with the people for whom they are designing. This focus on the human side of design is vital to create…
I was recently asked to write an open letter giving some advice to the class of graduating engineers this year. You can check out my whole letter here, but I'll share a snippet that got me thinking about what engineering education (mostly) isn't and what it could be: You'll need your creativity and imagination every bit as much as…
Tomorrow, October 16th 2013, at 8 pm EST, we'll join Jeff Shelton, aka 'Sheltoneer', a mechanical/industrial engineer with a passion for telling the lesser-known stories of the engineering profession and in improving engineering education, on the #BigBeacon twitter chat to hear why he believes that engineers would benefit from understanding or even adopting the skills and mindset of an…