Start Date
6-6-2017 12:00 AM
Description
Short Abstract:
Full Abstract:
One of the most relevant challenges for science and engineering programs is the incorporation of humanities and soft skills development into the curricula. There is a need for engineers to be able to connect the dots between the technical knowledge of their fields of study and the local and global challenges we face as a society. In order to educate this new type of engineer, also known as the T-shaped engineer, UTEC has launched a new educational model designed to provide students with a holistic understanding of their responsibility and capacity as professional engineers and human beings. In this sense, we have designed a humanities program centered in developing and harnessing three core skills which will provide the foundations for the student profile we want to graduate. At UTEC, we believe these skills - cross-cultural communication, ethical behavior and social responsibility, and creative and flexible focus - are the necessary conditions for a transdisciplinary understanding of sciences and engineering to take place. This is why the humanities program at UTEC strongly gravitates around four interrelated courses that are meant to trigger the process of developing the competencies mentioned above. These courses are: Communications Laboratory, English, Global Challenges, and Ethics and Technology. In order to create a solid interrelation between these courses we have identified specific content and methodologies that cross-cut the courses, therefore offering a consistent experience throughout the courses.
The content and pedagogy of an integrated experience throughout the four courses is oriented to help students shape their personal narrative. The starting point of the Humanities program at UTEC is recognition of the self. We are looking for students to become aware of their personal development process and how it is that they arrived at UTEC thanks to the continuity of experiences, decisions, and struggles. Each course tackles the development of personal storytelling from a different angle. Whether it is from a technical perspective in the “Communications Laboratory”, or from a content perspective in “Ethics and Technology”, this first educational experience at UTEC is an invitation for students to explore and reinterpret their thoughts about their individual and collective background. In order for students to be able to empathize and communicate across cultural boundaries, to think critically and act ethically, and to adapt to change, we have put in place specific content and methodologies oriented to question assumptions and to distinguish the self from others, being these two key components for developing a personal narrative.
In order to help students transition from their comfort zone to a state of awareness of the self and others, we challenge students’ previous knowledge by revising historical circumstances and ideological frameworks of local and global events and how it is that these events affect and shape them on a daily basis. By deepening their understanding of events such as the Shining Path guerrilla and Fujimori’s dictatorship in Peru, to climate change and global poverty, we expect to incorporate in students’ mindset a sense of context and historicity in which our own social representations are inscribed. The continuity between the courses “Global Challenges” and “Ethics and Technology” aims to consolidate our interest in providing students with the right tools to approach different ideas and dilemmas with tolerance and rigor. It is a student-centered process, since research outside the classroom, debate, and teamwork are core activities within the integrated learning experience. Furthermore, the contents students are working on in the “Global Challenges” course are integrated with the “Communications Laboratory” courses. This strategy improves students’ understanding of the global challenges since they have more opportunities to wrap their heads around the global challenges as they practice how to better articulate their thoughts and oral/written communication regarding issues that require transdisciplinary analysis. Throughout the English program at UTEC, we aim to assist students in joining the global conversation about ethics and technology. The English program is a platform for students to learn about multiple topics related to technology and humanities from a communicational perspective. By incorporating English courses in an integrated learning model, we are increasing the opportunities for students to exercise their communicational skills when it comes to transdisciplinary topics at the same time that we are enhancing their understanding of cultural and idiomatic nuances.
This project at UTEC has been launched in March 2017. Although we do not yet have data to support our proposal, we believe that by creating an integrated experience along these courses, we are putting in place the necessary cognitive foundations for students to develop a transdisciplinary understanding of sciences and engineering, both in the local and global spheres. This process is grounded in the development of a personal narrative, for it will be students’ frame of interpretation regarding their experience and perception of challenges that they will face as professional engineers.
A model: Integrating Humanities into Science and Engineering Programs
Short Abstract:
Full Abstract:
One of the most relevant challenges for science and engineering programs is the incorporation of humanities and soft skills development into the curricula. There is a need for engineers to be able to connect the dots between the technical knowledge of their fields of study and the local and global challenges we face as a society. In order to educate this new type of engineer, also known as the T-shaped engineer, UTEC has launched a new educational model designed to provide students with a holistic understanding of their responsibility and capacity as professional engineers and human beings. In this sense, we have designed a humanities program centered in developing and harnessing three core skills which will provide the foundations for the student profile we want to graduate. At UTEC, we believe these skills - cross-cultural communication, ethical behavior and social responsibility, and creative and flexible focus - are the necessary conditions for a transdisciplinary understanding of sciences and engineering to take place. This is why the humanities program at UTEC strongly gravitates around four interrelated courses that are meant to trigger the process of developing the competencies mentioned above. These courses are: Communications Laboratory, English, Global Challenges, and Ethics and Technology. In order to create a solid interrelation between these courses we have identified specific content and methodologies that cross-cut the courses, therefore offering a consistent experience throughout the courses.
The content and pedagogy of an integrated experience throughout the four courses is oriented to help students shape their personal narrative. The starting point of the Humanities program at UTEC is recognition of the self. We are looking for students to become aware of their personal development process and how it is that they arrived at UTEC thanks to the continuity of experiences, decisions, and struggles. Each course tackles the development of personal storytelling from a different angle. Whether it is from a technical perspective in the “Communications Laboratory”, or from a content perspective in “Ethics and Technology”, this first educational experience at UTEC is an invitation for students to explore and reinterpret their thoughts about their individual and collective background. In order for students to be able to empathize and communicate across cultural boundaries, to think critically and act ethically, and to adapt to change, we have put in place specific content and methodologies oriented to question assumptions and to distinguish the self from others, being these two key components for developing a personal narrative.
In order to help students transition from their comfort zone to a state of awareness of the self and others, we challenge students’ previous knowledge by revising historical circumstances and ideological frameworks of local and global events and how it is that these events affect and shape them on a daily basis. By deepening their understanding of events such as the Shining Path guerrilla and Fujimori’s dictatorship in Peru, to climate change and global poverty, we expect to incorporate in students’ mindset a sense of context and historicity in which our own social representations are inscribed. The continuity between the courses “Global Challenges” and “Ethics and Technology” aims to consolidate our interest in providing students with the right tools to approach different ideas and dilemmas with tolerance and rigor. It is a student-centered process, since research outside the classroom, debate, and teamwork are core activities within the integrated learning experience. Furthermore, the contents students are working on in the “Global Challenges” course are integrated with the “Communications Laboratory” courses. This strategy improves students’ understanding of the global challenges since they have more opportunities to wrap their heads around the global challenges as they practice how to better articulate their thoughts and oral/written communication regarding issues that require transdisciplinary analysis. Throughout the English program at UTEC, we aim to assist students in joining the global conversation about ethics and technology. The English program is a platform for students to learn about multiple topics related to technology and humanities from a communicational perspective. By incorporating English courses in an integrated learning model, we are increasing the opportunities for students to exercise their communicational skills when it comes to transdisciplinary topics at the same time that we are enhancing their understanding of cultural and idiomatic nuances.
This project at UTEC has been launched in March 2017. Although we do not yet have data to support our proposal, we believe that by creating an integrated experience along these courses, we are putting in place the necessary cognitive foundations for students to develop a transdisciplinary understanding of sciences and engineering, both in the local and global spheres. This process is grounded in the development of a personal narrative, for it will be students’ frame of interpretation regarding their experience and perception of challenges that they will face as professional engineers.