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SYLLABUS FOR PROPOSED COURSE --
CREATIVITY/INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING:
TO ENGINEER IS TO CREATE
SYNOPSIS
Engineering and other technical/scientific program students typically rely on left-brain thinking which is verbal, analytic, symbolic, abstract, temporal, and linear. This left-hemisphere bias carries over into professional practice.
This course gives students principles and tools to engage in more right-brain thinking which is nonverbal, synthetic, actual, analogic, non-temporal, and holistic.
Students will supplement their valuable left-brain abilities with equally valuable right-brain abilities. As a result, they, their schools, and eventually their employers will be better equipped to take more creative-innovative approaches to resolving issues, identifying and solving problems, seeking and pursuing opportunities, and molding their futures.
A half brain is good, a whole brain is much better! |
| Instructor: |
Stuart G. Walesh, Ph.D., P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, D.WRE, F.NSPE
Brief biographical sketch: click here! |
| Email: |
stuwalesh@comcast.net |
| Website: |
www.HelpingYouEngineerYourFuture.com |
| Need and Purpose: |
Futurists such as Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind;
John Naisbitt who wrote Mind Set! Reset Your Thinking and See the Future; and Harm de Blij writer of The Power of Place describe an increasingly globalized and challenging environment. Knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) needed for success in that complex environment include right brain characteristics such as: adaptability, collaboration, creativity, empathy, entrepreneurship, innovation, synthesis, and visualization.
These KSAs generally do not align with engineers in at least three ways: 1) Aspiring engineers and other technical professionals, as well as practitioners, have strong left-brain tendencies--they do not vigorously exhibit the listed right-brain oriented capabilities (This is not to say that members of other professions do). 2) The formal education of engineers and similar technical professionals usually places heavy stress on left-brain thinking relative to right-brain thinking. 3) While engineers and other technical professionals are excellent problem solvers they generally do not think in terms of identifying and pursuing opportunities, that is, creating and innovating. Lest there be any misunderstanding, left-brain thinking is very useful and its importance should not be diminished. However, if a half brain is good, wouldn’t a whole brain be much better?
Accordingly, the purpose of this course is to experiment with preparing students for the more creative/innovative way the professional and business world is likely to be, not the way it is. The intent is to enhance the students’ creative/innovative outlooks and to provide the tools and techniques needed to function accordingly. |
| Credits: |
1.0 to 2.0 credits, depending on whether all course work is in class or some of it is outside of class. Clearly this is very flexible. The overall idea is to design the course so that “book” and classroom instruction about creativity and innovation are juxtaposed with real projects. |
| Lectures: |
To be arranged. This course (or portion of a course) could consist of about 15 hours of lecture, about 45 hours of group/team project work (preferably at a classroom/studio/laboratory location where I could be available at times to assist the group/team), and possibly some individual study time. Overall, the approximately 15 hours of lecture and 45 hours of group/team project work could be scheduled in a variety of ways such as:
- Throughout a semester with the class meeting one day each week for one hour of lecture and three hours of workshop, or, for example, for half a semester at twice the lecture and workshop effort per week. A quarter system version could be arranged.
- A two-week (ten-day) concentrated course. Each day would be arranged as follows:
| Time of Day |
Lecture (HRS) |
Group/Team Project Work |
| AM |
1.5 |
2.0 |
| PM |
|
2.5 |
The two weeks could be consecutive or separated. For example, two consecutive weeks could be scheduled between semesters, at the beginning or end of a summer school session, during a summer school session, etc.
- Other options—the preceding are simply suggestions. Clearly, many other options can be created. While I have experience with teaching at a distance (webinars), that medium is not likely to be effective for most of this course because of the hands-on, workshop emphasis. However, it could be used for selected course elements.
|
| Office hours: |
To be arranged (my preference would be to have students working nearby, on-site, so that I and they would have easy access to each other). |
| Prerequisites: |
Admission to the course would depend primarily on a student’s interest in creativity/innovation and commitment to work on project teams composed of diverse individuals. Each student would be assumed to have some expertise in his or her field of study and be capable of learning more about that specialty, inspired by team needs as the course proceeds and doing so largely on his or her own initiative.
A liberal enrollment policy, including admitting non-engineering students, subject to the preceding criteria, would tend to attract the desired diverse group of participants. |
| Textbook and Resources: |
My in-process book, To Engineer is to Create, will be provided to each student and supplemented with many and varied readings from books, papers, and articles listed in Attachment B.
In addition, students will be referred to websites, e-newsletters, organizations, and personal and other resources. |
| Guest Speakers: |
Guest speakers and/or facilitators will be invited depending on opportunities and availability. |
| Grading Components: |
1. Participation in class and work sessions. - 10%
2. Team assignments which will include written submittals as well as presentations to the class. - 70%
3. Final examination to be taken by class members as individuals. - 20% |
| Course Content: |
Numbers indicate topics, not necessarily lectures, and topics would not necessarily be addressed in the numbered order.
- Introduction -- Students, instructor, syllabus, logistics, expectations
- Terminology -- Getting everyone on the same page
- Successful Teams -- The three essentials
- Psychological profiles – Additional insight into how you and others think
- Team formation -- Largely by instructor based on review of student profiles
- Team project selection (See Attachment C for ideas on creating a pool of potential projects)
- Team project presentations -- Description of selected problem, opportunity, issue, or other challenge
- Some views of the future -- The global professional and business environment
- Implications of globalization for engineers and other technical professionals -- Not your parent’s world
- Obstacles to creativity/innovation in engineering and other technical professions
- A brain primer -- The source of enhanced group creativity/innovation
- Thoughts for rational individuals about the “irrational”
- Engineering and creativity -- The linguistic connection
- Creativity -- Historic examples and some reflections
- Introduction to creativity/innovation-enhancing tools and techniques for group use -- They facilitate a whole brain approach to solving problems, pursuing opportunities, resolving issues, and addressing other challenges. (Tools and techniques will be selected largely from those listed in Attachment D.)
- Presentation of tools and techniques relevant to projects selected by student teams
- Team interim project status presentations
- Implementing change -- Lessons learned
- Team application of tools/techniques -- Coaching by instructor and possibly other resource people
- Team final project status presentations
- Final examination for students as individuals
|
| Relationship to the Body of Knowledge |
This course could help to fulfill the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge (BOK) as described in Civil Engineering Body ofBody of Knowledge for the 21st Century: (ASCE, 2008, free PDF version available at www.asce.org). Because of the course’s orientation toward projects with technical content, many of the 24 BOK outcomes are likely to be engaged. However, by design, the minimum goal of the course is to help achieve the eight outcomes listed below for every student (partly by rotation of individual roles and responsibilities within each team as the course proceeds). Students from other engineering specialties and from other disciplines are likely to value most of the named outcomes because they are widely applicable.
Civil Engineering Outcome
Number and Title |
Level of Cognitive Achievement |
8. Problem recognition and solving |
Formulate and solve an ill-defined engineering problem appropriate to civil engineering by selecting and applying appropriate techniques and tools. (L4) |
9. Design |
Design a system or process to meeting desired needs within such realistic constraints as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, constructability, and sustainability. (L5) |
13. Project Management |
Create project plans. (L5) |
16. Communication |
Organize and deliver effective verbal, written, virtual, and graphical communications. (L4) |
20. Leadership |
Organize and direct the efforts of a group. (L4) |
21. Teamwork |
Function effectively as a member of a multidisciplinary team. (L4) |
22. Attitudes |
Demonstrate attitudes supportive of the professional practice of civil engineering. (L3) |
24. Professional and Ethical Responsibility |
Apply standards of professional and ethical responsibility to determine an appropriate course of action (L3) |
To reiterate, the above outcomes and targeted levels of cognitive achievement are drawn from the Civil Engineering BOK. However, the outcomes are likely to be valued by other engineering disciplines and other specialties because they are widely applicable and valued. |
Stuart G. Walesh, practicing as an independent consultant, provides management, engineering, and education/training services to private, public, academic, and volunteer sector organizations. Current and past clients include the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Bonar Group, Boston Society of Civil Engineers, BSA Life Structures, CDM, Castilla LaMancha University, Clark Dietz, Daimler Chrysler, DLZ, Donohue & Associates, Earth Tech, Harris County (TX) Flood Control District, Hinshaw & Culbertson, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, J. F. New, Leggette-Brashears-Graham, Midwest Geosciences Group, MSA Professional Services, PBS&J, Pennoni Associates, Purdue University/ Indiana Department of Transportation, Rust Environment and Infrastructure, Taylor Associates, University of Wisconsin Engineering Professional Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Wright Water Engineers, and the communities of Pendleton and Valparaiso, IN.
After earning a BS in Civil Engineering at Valparaiso University, Stu obtained a MSE at The Johns Hopkins University and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a licensed professional engineer in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers.
Stu has over 40 years of engineering, education, and management experience in the government, academic, and private sectors and has worked as a project manager, department head, discipline manager, author, marketer, sole proprietor, professor, and dean of an engineering college. As an employee of various organizations, Stu enjoyed mentoring and coaching junior professionals in areas such as communication, team essentials, and project planning. Prior to beginning private practice as an independent consultant, he was employed full time by Valparaiso University, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, and Donohue & Associates and served on a part-time basis as an adjunct associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught part-time at Marquette University.
Water resources engineering is Stu’s technical specialty. He led or participated in watershed planning, computer modeling, flood control, stormwater and floodplain management, groundwater, dam, and lake projects. His experience includes project management, research and development, meeting planning and stakeholder participation, and expert analysis and witness services.
Areas in which he provides management and leadership services include reengineering, technical and nontechnical education and training (on site and via distance learning), mentoring and coaching, corporate universities, writing and editing, marketing, meeting planning and facilitation, project planning, and team essentials.
Stu authored Urban Surface Water Management (Wiley, 1989); Engineering Your Future, Second Edition (ASCE Press, 2000); Flying Solo: How to Start an Individual Practitioner Consulting Business (Hannah Publishing, 2000); Managing & Leading: 52 Lessons Learned for Engineers (ASCE Press, 2004); and Managing and Leading: 44 Lessons Learned for Pharmacists (co-authored with Paul Bush, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, 2008). He is author or co-author of hundreds of publications and presentations in the areas of engineering, education, and management and has facilitated or presented hundreds of workshops, seminars, webinars, and meetings throughout the U.S. He has spoken at engineering education and practice conferences in eight countries outside of the U.S., two times as the invited keynote speaker.
Stu is a member of ASCE and the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) and has chaired state and national committees and groups. For example, he was Chair of the ASCE Urban Water Resources Research Council and the ASCE Hydraulics Committee, President of the Wisconsin Section of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), served on and was editor for the ASCE Task Committee on the First Professional Degree, was Special Issues Editor for ASCE’s Committee on Publications, served on National Science Foundation (NSF) Proposal Review panels, chaired the first ASCE Body of Knowledge Committee and was editor for the second, served on and was editor for the ASCE Task Committee on the Summit on the Future of Civil Engineering, and is a member of the ASCE Committee on Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice. He served on the Indiana Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and is a member of the External Advisory Board of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Tyler. Stu has also contributed to community affairs. For example, he chaired the wellhead protection plan committee for Valparaiso, IN and was a member of the school superintendent selection committee in Waukesha, WI.
Stu was elected to Tau Beta Pi as an undergraduate and to Sigma Xi as a graduate student. In 1995, he received the Public Service Award from the Consulting Engineers of Indiana; in 1998, the Distinguished Service Citation from the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin; in 2003, the Excellence in Civil Engineering Education Leadership Award presented by the ASCE Educational Activities Committee; in 2004, he was elected a Distinguished Member of ASCE; in 2005, he was elected a Diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers; in 2007, he was named Engineer of the Year by the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers and received a Distinguished Service Award from NSPE; in 2008, he received the William H. Wisely American Civil Engineer Award from ASCE for leadership in promoting civil engineering as a profession; in 2009, he received the George K. Wadlin Distinguished Service Award from the Civil Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education; and in 2010, he was named a Fellow of the National Society of Professional Engineers.
Arciszewski, T. 2009. Successful Education: How to Educate Creative Engineers, Successful Education LLC, Fairfax, VA.
Arciszewski, T. 2010. “Successful Civil Engineering Education,” Forum, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice-ASCE, January 2010, pp. 1-7.
ASCE Body of Knowledge Committee. 2008. Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century: Preparing the Civil Engineer for the Future-Second Edition, ASCE, Reston, VA.
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Note: This attachment describes the process that will be used to identify some potential problems, opportunities, issues, and challenges which, in turn, could be selected by project teams.
Prior to the start of the course, each enrolled student would be asked to describe, in writing, according to a prescribed format, a problem requiring solving, an opportunity that could be pursued, an issue that should be addressed, or some other challenge. Subject to the topic being within or related to engineering, students would be given wide latitude.
The goal is to create a pool of problems, opportunities, issues, and challenges. The student-generated list would be supplemented with ideas provided by others. Once teams are formed very early in the course, each team can draw on the list of topics as part of the process of selecting one or more problems, opportunities, issues, or challenges to be addressed by the team during the course.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES THAT ENABLE TEAMS/GROUPS TO CREATIVELY SOLVE PROBLEMS, PURSUE OPPORTUNITIES, RESOLVE ISSUES, AND ADDRESS OTHER CHALLENGES
Note: Tools and techniques drawn from this list will be selectively presented and used in the course in response to the needs of projects being worked on by student teams. However, all tools and techniques, including some in addition to those listed, will be included in the course handout materials so students have them as a course take-away for possible future use.
- Brainstorming
- Multivoting
- Mind mapping
- Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats
- Fishbone diagramming
- Six caps
- Problems first
- As is-to be
- Swiss army knife
- Freehand drawing
- Borrowing brilliance
- Take a break
- The Medici effect
- Da Vinci’s seven principles
- Historic inspiration
- Physical and psychological environments
- Ohno Circle
- Biomimicry
- Problems first meetings
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