Orientation to the Engineering Education System

1
Chapter 8

• Orientation to the Engineering Education System

2
Chapter Overview

• Organization of engineering education
• Community college role in engineering education
• The engineering education system
• Academic advising
• Academic regulations
• Student conduct and ethics
• Graduate study in engineering
• Engineering study as preparation for other careers

3
Organization of Engineering Education

• Engineering education in the U.S.
• Organization of the engineering unit
• Position of engineering unit in the university

4
Engineering Education in U.S.

• 2,533 four-year colleges and universities in U.S.
• 352 have ABET accredited engineering programs
• 1,495 accredited programs (average of just over
  four programs per institution)
• Accreditation is critically important

5
Organization of Engineering Unit

• Engineering department headed up by department
  chair or department head
• Several departments form a school or college
  headed up by the dean
• Non-engineering departments (computer science,
  engineering technology, etc may be part of
  engineering unit

6
Position of Engineering Unit in University
7
Community College Role in Engineering Education

• 1,683 community colleges in the U.S.
• 40 percent of engineering graduates attended a
  community college at some time
• Articulation and course selection
• Advantages of starting at a community college
• Applicability of Studying Engineering to
  community college students

8
ABET Engineering Criteria 2000

• Students
• Program Educational Objectives
• Program Outcomes and Assessment
• Professional Component
• Faculty
• Facilities
• Institutional Support and Financial Resources
• Program Criteria

9
Program Assessment Process

• Establish educational objectives and outcomes
• Measure whether objectives and outcomes are being
  achieved
• Identify program strengths and areas for
  improvement
• Develop plan of action and implement changes to
  bring about improvements

10
Academic Advising

• Quality of advising can be a problem
• Take personal responsibility for getting proper
  advising
• Sources of advising
• Faculty
• Staff
• Other students
• Publications (student handbook, catalog)

11
Academic Regulations Academic Performance

• Grade point average
• Credit/No credit
• Incompletes
• Repeat grade policy
• Academic renewal
• Credit by examination
• Other

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Recognition for Academic Performance

• Probation
• Disqualification
• Deans List
• Graduation Requirements
• Graduation with Honors

13
Enrollment Policies

• Selecting your major
• Changing your major
• Double majors
• Minors
• Registration
• Drop/add Policy
• Leave of Absence/Withdrawal
• Course Substitutions
• Overload policy

14
Student Rights (Examples)

• Right to receive advisement
• Right to express your views, receive instruction,
  be graded fairly
• Right to form and participate in clubs and
  organizations
• Right to publish or broadcast our opinions or
  concerns
• Right to file petitions
• Right to file grievances
• Right to privacy of your records

15
Student Conduct and Ethics (Examples)

• Cheating or plagiarism
• Forgery, alternation, or misuse of campus
  documents, records or identification
• Obstruction or disruption of the campus
  educational process
• Physical abuse of any member of the campus
  community
• Theft of campus property
• Sale or possession of dangerous drugs
• And many more

16
Academic Dishonesty

• Cheating
• Fabrication
• Facilitating academic dishonesty
• Plagiarism

17
Graduate Study in Engineering

• Benefits of graduate study in engineering
• M.S. degree in engineering
• Ph.D. degree in engineering
• Full-time or part-time
• How will you support yourself?

18
Engineering as Preparation for Other Careers

• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
• Law
• Medicine

19
Group DiscussionEthical Dilemma

• In your group, discuss the following situation
• A friend has been sick and asks to copy your
  homework that is due in a few hours. What do you
  do?

Appoint a leader to keep the discussion on topic
and a recorder to record and report what was
learned
20
Group Discussion on Benefits of Graduate
Education

• Poll your group members to determine how many
  plan to pursue formal education beyond the B.S.
  degree in engineering. Then brainstorm a list of
  the rewards, opportunities, and benefits that
  result from pursuing a graduate degree in either
  engineering or another discipline (e.g., MBA).
  Discuss each of the benefits on your list. At
  the end of the exercise, poll your group members
  again.

Appoint a leader to keep the discussion on topic
and a recorder to record and report what was
learned