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August 21, 2009

What Engineers Don't Learn in School

Speaking at the National University of Singapore, David Goldberg explored the topic of "The Missing Basics: What Engineers Don't Learn and Why They Don't Learn It." He listed 7 missing basics that graduating engineering students leave school without having learned, including how to ask the right questions, how to use language to describe concepts, and how to decompose large problems into smaller ones. See the slides from Dr. Goldberg's speech for the complete list and for the series of solutions he proposes.

Dr. Goldberg is a professor of Entrepreneurial Engineering and Director of the Genetic Algorithms Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Posted by BlogAuthor1 at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)
category: Education

April 21, 2009

21st Century Skills for New Careers

NetworkWorld reports on a survey of 1600 college students who are pursuing various careers. The poll asked the students which skills they expect to use most in the workforce. Eighty percent of those polled expect to have to master new technology as they move into the workforce. Students believe that a wide variety of jobs will require technical skills. In addition to skills related to technology, the students also expect to need enhanced writing and marketing skills.

"The survey results show that students understand they need the ability to leverage technology for their employers across many careers," says Mark Hanny, vice president of IBM's Academic Initiative. Hanny describes the "T-shaped employees" who are sought by many employers. Such employees have a broad knowledge base about business in addition to deep knowledge about their particular field.

Posted by BlogAuthor1 at 2:11 AM | Comments (0)
category: Education

April 11, 2009

Hands-on Education

In his Curious Cat blog, John Hunter discusses how new educational programs are providing students with hands-on experience in science and technology. Programs such as First, Project Lead the Way, and the Infinity Project involve young people in the learning process and promote 21st century workplace skills like creative thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork. These programs help students see the possibility of making a difference in the world through a career in science, engineering, or technology.

Posted by BlogAuthor1 at 3:39 PM | Comments (0)
category: Education

March 31, 2009

Mathematical Firepower and Modern Science

Dr. Louise Ryan is a Harvard professor who was recently appointed Chief of Mathematical and Information Sciences at CSIRO, an Australian research organization. In her new role, Dr. Ryan will head up an organization which provides 'mathematical firepower' in support of all types of scientific research projects in Australia. She plans on using her new role to gain increased funding for mathematical education, since expertise in mathematics is essential for all areas of computer-based research.

One of the CSIRO research projects involves investigation into the human genome, analyzing complex genomic data to learn more about the nature of disease. According to Dr. Ryan, "The ability to transmit and gather information is just changing at an exponential rate. And so our statistical and mathematical fields have to evolve to be able to handle that data and that's where that very advanced computing comes in."

Posted by BlogAuthor1 at 3:50 PM | Comments (0)
category: Education

February 11, 2009

Teaching for the New Millennium

Educational experts are talking about the importance of "21st-Century Skills" for today's students. In addition to reading, writing and math, public education needs to prepare students to apply what they've learned in real-world scenarios. According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, "the ability to articulate and solve problems, to generate original ideas, and to work collaboratively across cultural boundaries is growing exponentially in importance."

The key to teaching these 21st-Century Skills seems to be integrating them into core subject teaching. The emphasis needs to go beyond preparing young people for the world of academia, and focus more on preparing them for the real world. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a national advocacy group which is working with states to initiate changes in teacher training, school curricula and testing.

Posted by BlogAuthor1 at 6:20 PM | Comments (0)
category: Education

July 19, 2005

National CyberEducation Project Opens at University of Richmond School of Law

IPcentral reports that the University of Richmond School of Law Intellectual Property Institute has launched the National CyberEdcuation Project, "an interdisciplinary grass-roots effort to engage students, faculty, and administrators on college campuses in discussion of contemporary intellectual property issues. . . . The Project will produce conferences, articles, blogs, education kits, and other student-oriented, campus-centric programs and materials."

I like the "interdisciplinary" part. The time has long passed when it was possible for the legal profession to address contemporary intellectual property issues on its own.

Posted by Robert at 9:11 AM | Comments (0)
category: Education