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Leadership and Teamwork Education for Engineering and Technology Students An Experiential Learning and Community Service Approach George Suckarieh, Jason Krupar University of Cincinnati

1. Introduction

The history of technical education in the United States over the last two hundred years can be traced back to the American Revolution; it evolved from both military and craftsmanship needs. Over the years, the trends in technical education changed from teaching of craftsmanship and basic science, to assembly and design of sophisticated projects. The present trend in technical education focuses on complimenting the design skills of technologists and engineers with communicative interpersonal skills that encourage them to plan and lead complex technical projects. This paper discusses the course, "Leadership and Teamwork from Within" that uses a mix of experiential learning approach, community service, and problem based learning to teach basic concepts of leadership and teamwork. The course was created and coordinated by two faculty members, an engineer and a historian, and served Honors Students in Technology Programs at the College of Applied Science, University of Cincinnati. The paper provides a brief historical overview of applied or technical education in the U.S. Next it discusses the objectives of the course and the pedagogy that the faculty used to accomplish these objectives. Finally, the paper outlines the challenges and rewards experienced by the faculty involved in the course. The faculty members who taught this class strongly believed that this course followed not only the long established practices of applied learning at the College of Applied Science, but also felt it fit within the traditional frameworks of American applied engineering and engineering technology education

2. A Brief History of American Engineering and Technology Education

When the American Revolution broke out in 1775, two engineering education approaches existed in Europe, which the Americans could model. By the time of the Revolution, the French (or continental European) method was fully developed and a proven success. Beginning in the 16th century, the French state centralized the education of engineers by building government- sponsored institutions. Increasingly, the education provided at these state funded schools shifted away from apprenticeship as a means to train engineers and instead emphasized scientific and mathematical principles as the underlying guides to the profession.

In Great Britain, the Industrial revolution gave the nation and individuals unprecedented opportunities. Commercial and industrial expansion provided the necessary capital to permit individuals and corporations to take on large, complex, and privately funded projects. These early venture capitalists required full-time, technically trained experts to supervise their commercial projects. British engineers came from all social classes and relied heavily upon apprenticeship training in educating the next generation of technologists.

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Krupar, J., & Suckarieh, G. (2005, June), Leadership And Teamwork Education For Engineering And Technology Students Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14506