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Developing Assessment Tools for International Experiences in Engineering Education

Abstract

Many international initiatives have emerged in response to the increasing perception of the need to educate the new engineers with global competencies. Study abroad programs, multinational projects, blended courses with international experiences embedded, new courses in the curriculum about globalization and international research collaboration are some of the activities that are being used to help the students to develop abilities beyond the traditional analytical knowledge to be competitive in the global market. However, there is neither enough data nor formal assessment practices in place to formally evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives in reaching the desired objectives. Additionally, their multinational and multicultural nature make more challenging the evaluation process due to the demanding time and resources. This paper reports a work in progress related to the development of assessment tools for international collaborative initiatives in engineering education. The final goal is to have a set of tools for objective assessment that can be adapted and/or adopted to measure performance, establish effectiveness and enhance quality of different international educational experiences.

Introduction

The rapid changes in technology as well as the flow of ideas, work, human resources, and merchandise around the world are causing more interdependence among the nations. Changes in the way in which people undertake economic production and organize the exchange of commodities represent an aspect of the great transformation of our age1. This brings more challenges to the industry since there is more competition but also brings more opportunities due to the transfer of capital and technology and the increment in trade of goods and services in the global market. This new social and economical model, known for many as globalization, requires the formation of professionals with global competencies. In the particular case of engineering, there is an increasing perception of the need to educate competent engineers for the global market; an engineer who must understand and accept diversity; be able to work in multi-national corporations; be able to work in multi-cultural teams; be creative in the solutions of problems impacting a wider and more diverse population; be able to communicate and socialize with people from different cultures; be knowledgeable in other language; be able to use the technology to exchange ideas, solve problems and present solutions; be a leader, an excellent team member, and an ambassador2. As a result, a group of organizations on this hemisphere such as Engineering for the Americas (EftA), the Ibero American Science and Technology Education Consortium (ISTEC), and the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions (LACCEI) have started developing initiatives to bring together the academia, the industry and governments in the region to identify and facilitate international collaboration initiatives in engineering education and research to foster the development of global competencies through the engineering curriculum, and to promote mutual recognition of engineer students across the boundaries and cross-border trade agreements facilitating the flow of work and human resources throughout the hemisphere to optimal locations for distributed economic development3.

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Esparragoza, I., & Friess, A., & Larrondo Petrie, M. M. (2008, June), Developing Assessment Tools For International Experiences In Engineering Education Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--3427