Preparing Engineers for the 21st Century: How to Teach Engineering Students Process Skills

Process skills (problem-solving, lifelong learning, critical thinking, communication and collaboration, self-assessment, change management, etc.) have always been important in any education and work setting. However, new challenges presented by a new, globalized economy, have put a new focus on these skills in the engineering workplace. Process skills present a great challenge for educators and practicing engineers alike because they are hard to define explicitly, hard to teach, and even harder to develop as a student. They depend on attitudes and values as much as they depend on content knowledge. For educators the challenge is three-fold: how to clearly define these skills, how to assess them, and how to effectively teach them to their students. The paper discusses a course design process that facilitates the development of these skills to help prepare engineering and technology students for the challenges of the 21st century workplace. Preparing Engineers for the 21st Century: How to Teach Engineering Students Process Skills