Global Engineering, Humanitarian Case Studies, and Pedagogies of Transformation

Abstract

What does the interface between pedagogical research and course development look like? "Appropriate Technology in International Development", part of the Engineering curriculum at the University of British Columbia, is co-taught by an instructor of Technical Communication and an instructor of History, who use pedagogies of engagement and transformation, specifically those posited by proponents of Community Based Learning and Research. With reference to accreditation criteria and new concepts of engineers, we review models of intellectual development (e.g. Perry and Baxter Magolda) and consider the overlap of various stages within these models. To explore how students might move from stage to stage, we consider the "disruptive" and "anti-foundational" pedagogies of Mezirow and Butin as ways to help students learn to appreciate "other" ways of perceiving the world and of co-constructing knowledge. In the course, students are introduced to strategies of Problem Oriented Learning (POL) through humanitarian case studies involving socio-technical problems identified by three communities in India. Attention to the concept of community and the complexity of social context becomes critical, as students learn to develop a tolerance for ambiguity and, through the instrument of critical reflection, shift the starting point for their research from the technical problem itself to its larger social context(s).