Lifelong Learning for Engineers and Scientists in the Information Age

By Ashok Naimpally, Hema Ramachandran and Caroline Smith

The book provides a comprehensive review of lifelong learning, information literacy and internships including assessment techniques for lifelong learning, teamwork and information literacy as defined by the ABET criteria. It also discusses critical thinking skills for scientists and engineers and their role in lifelong learning in the information age.

It will be invaluable for:

• Engineering educators including librarians interested in developing programs to satisfy the ABET criteria for lifelong learning and teamwork.
• Engineering librarians developing programs and assessment tools for information literacy using online databases and the Internet.
• Engineering educators and career advisors interested in developing internship programs in engineering. An internship is defined as work performed in an industrial setting that provides practical experience and adds value to the classroom and research learning processes. This book will cover all aspects involved in administering internship and cooperative education programs.
• Employers of interns will find useful information on needs assessment, program development, evaluation and the importance of lifelong learning; and,
• Science and engineering educators interested in developing critical thinking skills in their students as an aid to developing lifelong learning skills especially given the challenges in the digital age.

• Provides information on how to develop programs and assessment tools for information literacy
• Describes how to set up an internship program
• Develops critical thinking skills

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Dec 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9780123852151

Book preview

Conclusion

1

Introduction

What are necessary critical-thinking skills for engineers and scientists to have in order to enter the workforce? What skills do they need in order to stay current in a changing world throughout the course of a long career span? Educators, students, and employers alike may also ask how best to develop these skills. Certainly, in an era of prevalent electronic information, information overload, and tight academic and corporate budgets, those with the best-developed skills stand a much better chance of achieving lifelong career success. Educators seek to prepare students as thoroughly as possible for their careers, and employers seek to hire versatile and competent employees. In the United States, despite pressures of marketplace economics, academics and employers have come together into partnerships to provide students with the foundation for robust careers in engineering and science.

This book begins with the foundational elements necessary for understanding the context of lifelong learning skills as a career strength, then moves through the methods instructors and librarians use to teach and to develop students’ lifelong-learning skills. Finally, we will examine the internship as a vital component to the development of a scientist or engineer with a career path open to any future direction.

Setting the education baseline, we will discuss the definition of information literacy as it is commonly understood within the university setting. Of course, accrediting boards oversee universities and must ensure universities precisely meet particular academic standards involving information literacy and lifelong-learning skills. Fortunately this is a reciprocal arrangement, as information literacy standards are embraced by all involved, including those in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and ABET, Inc., the accrediting body involved in certifying the education of the newly minted engineer. All parties involved agree on the added value of lifelong-learning skills in the face of the information overload of the digital information age. Employers in engineering firms and scientific research centers are all equally desirous of seeing these skills developed during the educational phase of a science or engineering career. Creativity, awareness of context, and successful communication patterns are all critical elements of the successful engineer and cannot be developed without information literacy and lifelong-learning skills.

With the aid of this book, the reader will be taken through the elements necessary for creating the successful student learner. We will look at designing traditional information literacy assignments for college seniors involved in capstone courses, as well as assignments for freshmen design classes. Literature surveys and curriculum mapping techniques will be shown as tools useful in discovering and targeting the best courses in which to incorporate information literacy. In order to ensure in-class efforts are successful, assessment tools in the context of an engineering curriculum will be discussed, including the four most powerful and popular methods used for honing and strengthening information literacy instruction.

The third element needed to create the truly information-literate scientist or engineer is the internship. This is the critical in context component for creating the lifelong learner. It brings to students a startling clarity of vision of their places in the information stream and with employers as they begin their careers. By looking at the history and philosophy of internships and of cooperative education, the reader will come to understand when and how to bridge the gap between academics and practice. In this context, we will present the learning contract. This is the formal assignment that binds the student, employer, and academic advisor to the standards and principles of the marketplace, the educational environment, and the formal accrediting bodies. We will provide examples of how to develop learning contracts and objectives, as well as how to assess competency methods and evaluate internship programs as a whole.

This work is intended as a guide for educators and employers—and even for students looking for a better understanding of their educational and professional future direction. Career-seeking skills are just as important in the educational process as are information-seeking skills. Fortunately for engineers and scientists, their professional support structure is fully embedded in this model.

2

Definitions of Lifelong Learning and How They Relate to the Engineering Profession

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines lifelong learning thus:

lifelong learning n. a form of or approach to education which promotes the continuation of learning throughout adult life, esp. by making educational material and instruction available through libraries, colleges, or information technology.

OED Online (Oxford University Press)

The OED definition provides a good general starting point that lifelong learning is primarily conducted through educational institutions. In fact, the idea or concept of lifelong learning can be traced back to the ancient Greeks. At a presentation to Leningrad University, Bosco (2007) traces the classical roots of the