Course Overview
The main goal of this course is to help engineers learn to work with people who define problems differently than they do. The course travels around the world, examining how what counts as an engineer and engineering knowledge has varied over time and from place to place. Students gradually become 'global engineers' by coming to recognize and value that they live and work in a world of diverse perspectives. Minimally, participants gain concrete strategies for understanding the cultural differences they will encounter on the job and for engaging in shared problem solving in the midst of those differences. When the course works best, it can help students figure out how and where to locate engineering problem solving in their lives while still holding onto their dreams. The title of the course is a pun: it both compares the cultures of engineers at different times and places and explores how engineers participate in and contribute to everyday cultural life.
Dr. Gary Downey and Dr. Juan Lucena jointly developed Engineering Cultures™ at Virginia Tech in 1995. Dr. Downey has taught the course the course at Virginia Tech nearly every semester since 1996, and Dr. Lucena has been teaching the course at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott Campus since 1997. During summer 2001, Downey and Lucena taught a two-week version of the course at the International Institute for Women in Engineering in Paris, France.
About the Online Course
To help meet growing demand for the course, both among undergraduates and as a vehicle for continuing education, Dr. Downey and four staff members from Video Broadcast Services began in July 1999 developing a hybrid CD/web version of the course. The purpose of the hybrid structure is to preserve an emphasis on writing and to replicate as much as possible the intimate experience students gain with their own perspectives.
In Fall 2001, Downey is conducting a full-semester beta test of the hybrid course (5 CDs) with 120 students and 3 teaching assistants, Brent Jesiek, Amy Nichols, and Theresa Jurotich. You can download the PDF format handbook for the Fall 2001 course by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.
The CDs offer students daily lessons that combine text, audio, video and still images. The Course Demo page offers sample screen shots of the multimedia experience. Student learning is maximized by active involvement with instructors and fellow students in various online activities, including homeworks, quizzes, writing assignments, exams, chat rooms, and discussion boards. You can view a sample schedule for more information on the material covered in the course. The Blackboard software package (formerly CourseInfo) is used to manage all course materials, student assessments and course collaboration.
If you are interested in making the Engineering Cultures™ course available at your school or workplace, please contact Dr. Downey.
echandbook.pdf (Coming soon!)
| Questions or comments? View Contact Info or e-mail downeyg@vt.edu. |
Modified
8/7/01
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