FH Joanneum and HSD did participate in a EU project called ELIC. This Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for School Education took place from October 2017 – September 2019. The task was to set up a MOOC (massive open online course) for natural sciences teachers to improve engineering literacy among secondary school pupils. As a result ELIC aimed to increase engineering skills among secondary school pupils to increase their interest in technical occupations. Furthermore, the MOOC should equip natural sciences teachers with examples and experiments they can apply directly in class. Maybe some of the ideas can also work on a university level.

Check out the results: http://www.elic-mooc.com/

Recently, I found the publication of Hall, Cronk, Brackin, Barker and Crittenden from the Lousiana Tech University and the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. The authors published in 2008 which are the attributes of “The Engineer of 2020” (could be also “The Engineer of 2030”?:
1. Strong analytical skills
2. Practical ingenuity
3. Creativity
4. Good communication skills
5. Lifelong learners
6. Dynamic, agile, resilient and flexible characteristics
7. High ethical standards
8. Leadership skills
9. Professionalism
10. Business and management skills

The spanish companies that we interviewed highlight all these skills and sometimes agree that the graduates do not have it -they have technical skills but not the named “soft skills” with the required level.

With the workshops conducted by ASCENT Project we have tried to address this gap, but probably it is necessary to rethink the curriculum to guarantee that the graduates in engineer, at the end of this studies, starts to develop these 10 competences.

Today, I want to share with you a resource that synthesis the 10 characteristics of successful engineers.

You can find the source on https://newengineer.com/blog/10-characteristics-of-successful-engineers-infographic-1356585

Taking into account the previous post and this one, in your company, which are the more valuable skills?

@adiaz Woa, this is a really interesting ranking. Due to our teaching experience we realised that the number one skill " Team Player" is a skill we try to teach our students in various classes. However, the past years showed that when students find themselves in random groups, which not include their "friends", they are very often challenged by organising the work and generating a valuable output. This proves how important it is to be able to work in mixed teams with different backgrounds and knowledge.

@claudiafussenecker I agree with you! In our context (we teach future educators) we observe the same: when students work with not peer "friends" they confront the challenges of teamwork -this year have increased with the online teaching modality.

Our experience is that, in the beginning, students don't like that teachers' create the groups (usually, randomly), but at the end of the semester/course they agree that the experience is challenging and that learn how to work in group and how to manage the difficulties to finish the task with quality.

During long-term group activities, that consist in developing a group project, students need to observe the group process, take notes about the situation faced and the solutions that they implemented, and reflect in the group about the teamwork process. That makes them more conscious about the overall process. Also, in the end, we apply a rubric to self- and peer-asses the contribution and implication to the group project.

@adiaz Hello Anna. Very interesting post! I am looking for work myself, and just recently had to think of soft skills to establish in my resume. From my experience engineers can adapt to many jobs because of their mental structure after university. With this said, what do you think of setting "mental abstraction" and "logical thinking" as my two most important soft skills?

Cheers

Hello Martin! Thank you for your contribution. It is good to think about our soft skills and make the exercise to grade the level of development of each skill. In the curriculum, it is good to show which are your strong skills based on the job profile/position, as help to the employees knows you better what are your strong points.

Related to the two skill that you point out, for sure is a good idea to highlight these two if for you are the two strong skills, but also you need to show the other valued skills from the point of view of the employees. It seems that communication skills, teamwork skills and creativity area valued by them.

Finally, to prepare for possible job interviews, try to think about specific examples which show these skills in practice.
Regards,

Anna

hola, lei tu articulo, soy Raul Hernandez, estudiante del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, y sabs, tomo muy en cuenta tu post, ya que sinceramente, son habilidades que carecemos en area social los ingenieros, pero, aun asi faltando esas herramientas, no es pretexto para aprenderlas, mi profesor Justino Gonzalez Lopez, tambien miembro de esta plataforma, nos mostro este sitio web: https://aprende.org/         donde puedes tomar cursos hasta de liderazgo, comunicacion, creatividad etc.

espero podamos difundirlo, no es personal aclaro, pero puedes aprender, hasta tener un certificado o diplomado.

saludos, gracias por tu post Ana Diaz 

En el perfil de egreso de un estudiante de Ing. Mecánica perteneciente al IPN, se desarrollan competencias técnicas y sociales que lo contextualizan en un medio optimo para diversificar sus habilidades en espacios donde pueda aplicar ciencia y técnica para la solución de problemas, la innovación, el cuidado ambiental, entre muchas otras áreas mas de aplicación, sin embargo, coincido en señalar que el plan de estudios requiere hacer énfasis en estándares éticos, de liderazgo empresarial y de gestión así como en el desarrollo de habilidades comunicativas.

Considere algunos aspectos del articulo que anexo: http: //www.cientifica.esimez.ipn.mx/manuscritos/V23N1_061_067.pdf

@adiaz That´s amazing, As a future engineer it's very worthy to know the other skills that engineers need to have to be successful at work  

@raulhdezs ¡Muchas gracias por compartir! No sabía de este recurso.

¡Muchas gracias @efrainrodriguezhernandez por compartir y compartir el artículo!

Los enfoques de aprendizaje por proyectos creo que son una de las mejores metodologías para desarrollar las habilidades blandas o las competencias transversales de las que aquí estamos hablando y que resumen muy bien las autoras del artículo:

"Las ingenierías que demanda el campo laboral actual se caracterizan además del conocimiento técnico-científico, por perfiles híbridos y complejos: informática, expresarse a través de diversos lenguajes, el trabajo colaborativo, la integración de los saberes: conceptuales, procedimentales y
actitudinales para dar solución a diversos problemas. Los resultados de la formación de ingenieros deben dar como resultado perfiles de egreso que traspasan las fronteras de una disciplina y de un área de conocimiento específica"

La revisión de los planes de estudio, sin duda alguna, han de garantizar que los futuros egresados tengan oportunidades y espacios en las que poner en práctica tanto el conocimiennto técnico-científico como este conjunto de habilidades.

¡Saludos!

Hola,

sorry, I don't understand because its in spanish... please try to stick to English so everybody can understand! Thanks!

I’m taking an Introductory course about Aerospace Engineering, given by Professor Hoffman, NASA’s Astronaut; in a part of the course, Prof. Hoffman exposed 10 attributes considered by BOEING for a Good Engineer, the same converged with attributes exposed by Nguyen:

-A good understanding of engineering fundamentals (Mathematics, Physical and life science and information technology)

-A good understanding of design and manufacturing processes

-A multi-disciplinary, systems perspective

-A basic understanding of the context in which engineering is practiced

-Good communication skills (written, oral, graphical, listening)

-High ethical standards

-An ability to think both critically and creatively

-Flexibility (the ability and self-confidence to adapt to change)

-Curiosity and desire to learn throughout life

-Ability to work independently and cooperative

Get those attributes are not easily, but the hard work and discipline are tools which will help us to get it.  The same road of engineering prepares us to obtain them.

Jesus Castro