Early Engagement and Vertically-Integrated Learning: Developing Whole-Person and Entrepreneurially-Minded Engineers Article Swipe
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· 2024
· Open Access
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· DOI: https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--41453
· OA: W4391560969
Nationwide, 40-60% of engineering students leave their engineering major, with women and underrepresented minorities doing so at higher rates. In the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Georgia Institute of Technology in recent years, 50% of students have changed to a new major in their first two years, while roughly the same numbers have entered the program simultaneously from other engineering majors. Similar departure rates are seen in programs across the country. Reversing attrition from civil and environmental engineering is a critical need for addressing society's grand challenges effectively. Part of this attrition is due in part to limited discipline-focused engagement until students' junior year. To address this, the School of CEE is providing early engagement in authentic engineering experiences and giving students the opportunity to reflect on these experiences to solidify their CEE identity. We are creating opportunities early and across the curriculum for our students to engage in interactive problem-based learning centered on the global grand challenges, while developing their technical and computational knowledge, skills, and mindset. We are also equipping our students to work effectively in teams and to apply story-driven learning to become more reflective learners. This takes the form of a "spine" of vertically-integrated courses. These innovations in the curriculum contribute to the development of whole-person engineers with an enhanced sense of belonging to the discipline and a strengthened self-concept as a civil or environmental engineer. This initiative also supports the development of entrepreneurially-minded engineers, that is, engineers who know how to create value for society and do so habitually. We outline these innovations in each of the four vertically-integrated courses, while emphasizing the techniques applied and how they connect to create a cohesive curriculum that engages students as engineers from the freshman year.
