Conference proceeding
Learning to Live with Floods: Pedagogical Advantages of a Thematic Short Course Centered on International Exposure
2011 ASEE ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION
ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
01/01/2011
Abstract
The increasingly global nature of all fields of engineering has created new pressures on educators to provide valuable international experience to their respective engineering students. The rigors of the highly demanding engineering curriculum that prevent enrollment in study abroad programs have been circumvented by the application of a short-term model that provides distinct logistical and pedagogical advantages over semester-long study abroad courses. The International Perspectives in Water Resource Science & Management ( IPWRSM) course is steeped in over ten years of history in international experiences that have been provided to both graduate students and undergraduate students alike. Recognizing the need to expose students to the international facets of the engineering and research workplaces, the IPWRSM course aims to provide students with the international experience gained in a traditional study abroad course while overcoming the obstacles to enrollment that result in typical under-representation of engineering students. In addition to providing engineering curriculum, an opportunity to connect engineering education organizations in different parts of the world is also made available.
A 2010 two week course to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom presents a case study that showcases the introduction to concepts present in differing academic and professional cultures. The theme of "Learning to Live with Floods" provided students experience to cutting-edge flood management and modeling techniques. This exposure enhanced students' academic goals in a fashion that would be impossible during the course of typical engineering curricula. The wide variety of lectures, presentations, and field trips are provided in a context that serves to acclimate students to a career that is increasingly likely to be multicultural and global. Surveys that were completed before and after the Netherlands/UK offering of the course, in conjunction with surveys from a previous IPWRSM course to Egypt, provide quantitative evidence towards the benefits of the short-term model. Evidence points toward the fact that the short-term study abroad model prepares students for the increasingly global environment of the engineering workplace, and the model must be developed further. This paper presents a discussion of the relevancy and success of the IPWRSM course and recommends that similar models be adopted if education institutions wish to prepare engineering students for a global workplace.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Learning to Live with Floods: Pedagogical Advantages of a Thematic Short Course Centered on International Exposure
- Creators
- Samuel James Boland - Univ Iowa, IIHR Hydrosci & Engn, Iowa City, IA 52242 USAMichael V. Schaefer - IIHR Hydrosci & Engn, Iowa City, IA USACarmen M. Langel - Univ Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USATaryn Michelle Tigges - Univ Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USAFabienne Bertrand - IIHR Hydrosci & Engn, Iowa City, IA USAMarian Muste - University of IowaZachary David Hingst
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Publication Details
- 2011 ASEE ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION
- Publisher
- Amer Soc Engineering Education
- Series
- ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
- ISSN
- 2153-5965
- Number of pages
- 16
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2011
- Academic Unit
- Geographical and Sustainability Sciences; IIHR--Hydroscience and Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9984479362102771
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