DEVELOP TALENT
Learning for engineers is increasingly moving out of the classroom, into the workplace and online, with immediate on-boarding, learning-by-doing, and connectivity to just-in-time information sources. Off-site workshops provide reflective opportunities specifically for those in a position to guide the enterprises' results and for those responsible for the increasingly critical challenge of workforce development.
Engineers are also being alerted to the need to develop attributes which in addition to the traditional essential technical grounding and analytical competencies call for strong communication and computing abilities and require engineers to have functional skills such as practical ingenuity, creativity, business and management fundamentals, leadership, agility, resilience, and commitment to lifelong learning . With the advent of web 2.0 applications virtual learning environments and communities cutting across time and distance are being created that allow engineers to include the following in their professional development:
- Engineering practice-based learning to support academic learning to fully ground theories taught in a classroom
- Collaborative, socially-relevant learning to develop the professional skills of teamwork, communication, and leadership
- Acquire cross-cultural competence for a global world where products are likely to be co-designed with someone in another country
- Keep up with the fast changing and multi-disciplinary nature of engineering through life-long learning
- Develop design, creativity, and innovation skills as it is no longer acceptable for engineers to just analyze problems or mathematically derive models of problems; They have to be able to synthesize unique and innovative designs using their knowledge
Engineering 360Act is an advanced competencies training and knowledge exchange platform for engineers. It integrates information technology with real time skills-gap analyzer and workplace curricula development processes to help engineers acquire advanced attributes and combat change through self-directed learning.
Charles M. Vest, President Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an NAE member in Educating Engineers for 2020 and Beyond on October 10, 2005, at the NAE Annual Meeting The National Academy of Engineering has defined attributes of 2020 engineers (NAE, 2004).