Product Description
In the past ten years, leaders in engineering industries have identified specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of their workforce if they want to be innovative and competitive in a global marketplace. Engineering education programs have kept pace with emerging disciplinary knowledge, research and technologies, but have been less successful in ensuring that their graduates acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes desired by industry. Evaluation by … More >>
There is no question that engineering education needs fundamental rethinking. In contrast to other occupations where it is possible to discern real linkages between education and practice, in engineering the gap is so large that engineering education has been described as a mere ritual, a rite of passage with very little relevance for actual practice. This initiative described in the book is certainly a small step in the right direction. I think the book would have been stronger with some clear connections to research on what engineers actually do. This seems to be taken as an assumption in contrast to other sections of the book where lots of references have been provided.
The curriculum listed at the back of the book seems to be extraordinarily detailed but it is not really clear how much of this is actually taught and what kind of emphasis is placed on each of the numerous subcategories. It looks more like a wish list than reality.
I think that the book needs to be linked to a comprehensive set of web-based resources such as ideas for projects, backup material such as instructions on developing project teams, peer assessment etc. CDIO.org does not seem to provide this yet. The selection of projects listed in the is very modest and it would be nice to see some careful evaluation work reported.
Top marks for the chapter on the history of engineering education by Jorgensen.
Worth buying, to understand what this important development is all about.
Rating: 3 / 5