General Engineering Introduction/ASEE Paper/Fear

Fear the disappearance of Engineering Education

DIY U by Anya Kamenetz quotes

"The face to face experience, like a live concert, remains valuable as one item on an expanding menu."

"Research shows hybrid beats online only and class only approaches."

"Learners .. publish portfolios of meaningful work that help jobs find them."

"Higher Ed provides .. content, skills, socialization and accreditation. The web can make each of these more accessible, higher quality and even free."

MOOC

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are going to disrupt higher education as we know it.

Introduction to Engineering

The course introduction to engineering can be a model for future face to face education and all other engineering courses. Engineers don't take a course in shovels. Yet aren't English and math such courses? What makes engineering courses unique? Where did the "typing class" go? The course "Introduction to Engineering" is the only course where face to face components are absolutely necessary. This paper is about learning to use a shovel only when digging holes. It is about recognizing problems of the world, not individuals.

Edison created the first quadrature telegraph mux; solved the powered telephone transmission problem; created the first music recording/playing device; created the light bulb and electricity distribution infrastructure; and created the created the first 35mm film camera. So do freshman engineering students. Freshman engineering students want to change the world too. Let them.

Student Support Service Bloat

Schools have moved way beyond protecting fingers from damage. Today education is capturing and holding onto every possible social improvement in a bewildering mosaic that is crowding out engineering, creating a nation addicted to education and turning first year engineering courses into personal growth seminars. Some call Academic Support Services, "Faculty Harassment Service." Academic Support Service bloat is the major cost of tuition bloat (DIY U page 53). Here is the evidence:

• Clean engineering project space (rather than cluttered mess of creative in-progress engineering)
• Must write objectives, assignments on the board
• Must accommodate infinite variety of special needs
• Trash, recycling, cleaning, tool safety inspection
• When door to classroom can be open, door stop confiscation
• Four types of Disaster drills practiced regularly
• Fear of student escalation
• Soda brand drinking enforcement
• Parking lot vagabond prevention
• Airspace enforcement, no parachutes, kites, quadcopters, UAVs or weather balloons
• Beautiful facilities, no playing in fountains, no antennas on the roof, no parachutes dropped from the parking garage, no zip lines, no parking spaces for projects
• Centralized Video Camera control
• Work Study, Student Government, Purchasing, Service Learning
• Disneyland line management throttle
• Speaker competition,
• Fund raising pre-approval,
• Project Funding Accountability Expansion
• Scholarship, Internship, Mentorship fairness
• External, non-engineering project approval to prevent "boys and toys" appearance

Faculty use to have voice. Now they have 10 month contracts. Service opportunities turn into control points.