An Introduction To Engineers Competencies - 2012

Graduate engineering should have base
knowledge and methods

namely, adequate competency to entry in practice with:
a thorough understanding of the body of engineering knowledge

relevant to their occupational category;
the ability to apply this knowledge to representative problems and
situations, typical of the responsibilities of practitioners in that
category;
Competency is commonly defined in learning as
the ability to perform activities in an occupational category or

function to the standard expected in employment.
Dept of Mechanical Engineering
Key-capabilities for engineering students
Bordogna (1997) quotes an US National Science Foundation (NSF, USA)

report (published in 1989) which identified: integration, analysis, innovation
and synthesis, and contextual understanding as key-capabilities for
engineering students.
Furthermore, he states the essence of engineering is the process of

integrating different forms of knowledge to some purpose and an
engineering student must experience the "functional core of engineering,
the excitement of facing an open-ended challenge and creating something
that has never been.
Pursuing the improvement change should intrinsically be

expertise of an engineer
..in order to successfully entry in practice

The National Academy of Engineers (NAE) suggests that the essence
of engineering (i.e. the iterative process of designing, predicting
performance, building, and testing) should be taught from the earliest
stages of the curriculum.
Thus Rugarcia, Felder,Woods, & Stice (2000) proposed the following
categories of necessary skills for engineers:
a. independent, interdependent and lifetime learning skills;
b. problem solving, critical and creative thinking skills;
c. interpersonal and teamwork skills;
d. communication skills;
e. self-assessment;
f. integrative and global thinking skills; and
g. Change-management skills.
What skills and attributes should be acquired by a graduate

engineer?
Engineering is not just applied science; it is as much about process as
it is about technical knowledge.
An engineers task involves conceiving and designing products,
processes, and systems, and to predict their behavior using science;
Scientists create models to understand natural phenomenon with
known outcomes, whereas engineers create models to predict
outcomes for systems.
Hoscette (2002) and Erlendsson (2001) have identified some

workplace defects and leading causes of failures in engineering.
As per their observation, the major concerns are: passivity, nonresponsiveness, uncritical thinking, technical incompetence, inept or poor
communication skills, poor relations with the supervisor, inflexibility, poor
and lax working habits, and too much independence.
A Taxonomy of Core Competencies

There are great similarities in the competency set identified by
accreditation agencies of US, UK, Australia, Japan, and Singapore.
ABET, Accreditation Board for
Engineering and
Technology (USA)
UK SPEC, UK Standard for
Professional Engineering
Competence
IES, Institute of Engineers
Singapore
EA ,Engineers Australia
JABEE, Japan Accreditation
Board for
EngineeringEducation
and the final results

The following list puts these competencies as per the order of
importance:
a. Ability to apply knowledge
b. Design skills
c. Problem solving skills
d. Technical competence
e. Ability to work in multidisciplinary teams
f. Communication skills
g. Sensitivity towards global, societal, and environmental issues
h. Sensitivity towards ethical and professional issues
i. Readiness for life-long learning
The 5 Dimensions of Learning: act for applying meaningfully

knowledge
5.Habits of Minds
1.Decision making
2. Investigation
3. Experimental Inquiry
3.Using knowledge
meaningfully
4. Problem Solving
5. Invention
6.Comparing
2.Extending/refining
Knowledge
7. Classifing
8. Making induction
9. Making deduction
10. Analysing Errors
11. Creating/analysing support
12. Analyzing perspectives
1.Acquiring/
integrating Knowledge
13. Abstracting
4.Attitudes and
perceptions
When learners extend and refine knowledge, they continue to acquire knowledge, and when
they use knowledge meaningfully, they are still acquiring and extending knowledge
The 13 complex reasoning processes are not a list of skills, but only common tasks in
which complex reasoning is exhibited
Job knowledge content: an example

Career Description: Actor
Actors communicate an author's script to others by acting in a
creative and convincing fashion.
They entertain people through media such as theatre, film, radio
and television.
Their skills are used in to convey information to the audience in an
effective way.
What history teaches us, from an economic point of

view
is that:
the economic growth in the modern-era (starting
from the Industrial Revolution) was possible since
it was self-sustained growth
the economic growth involved all the citizens
and created mobility across various social strata
What the history teaches us, from a wider point of view
Social, material and capital resources are indispensable prerequisites to

successful innovation
Many inventions have failed (not self-sustained) because the social

resources vital for their realization (the capital, materials, and skilled
personnel) were not available.
The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are full of ideas for helicopters,

submarines, and airplanes, but few of these in his period reached even the
model stage because resources of one sort or another were lacking
Contextually, it is only from the 17 th Century with the Enlightment when we

assisted such a scientific revolution that we associate with Galileo,
Descartes, Newton, Bacon and many other giants: that a profound
intellectual change occurred in Europe after the Dark Ages.
Humans thinking-changes prepared the Industrial

Enligthment
Bacon in 1620 had famously defined technology by declaring that the control
of humans over things depended on the accumulated knowledge about how
nature works.
Several natural philosophers in the Eighteenth Century were realizing

main purpose of knowledge was to improve mankinds material condition: to
do this, technology was playing fundamental role.
Until the Industrial Revolution (from middle 18 th to early 20 th Century), no

science philosophers studies were applied meaningfully to develop artifacts
and techniques, that system today we call technology.
Actually, with few exceptions, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and Issac Newton
(1643-1727), no scientific philosophy had been reduced to quantitative law.
thanking to introduction of scientific meaning and

reasoning
Basing on Newtons laws described Philosophiae Naturalis Principia

Mathematica (generally considered the birth of the modern mechanics), for
example, it is even possible to model contemporary industrial machines involving
a multiplicity of forces that works together to produce reaction (heat friction,
inertia, expansion, stress, etc.)
The Industrial Enlightenment can be viewed as a movement that insisted on

asking not just which techniques work but also why, realizing that such
questions held the key to continuing progress and can be answered
successfully by governing the natural law of physics and chemistry
To govern the physics and chemistry (that is to govern natural things) human
kind realized the scientific method evolved in the seventeenth Century was
being the solution.
There are three basic questions regarding how innovation

helps competition
Should the innovation process start from the market demand or by
designing the technological solution?
If companies need to look primarily at demand-side, how do they pick
up signals about changes in areas they dont normally research?
How do they understand the needs of a market that doesnt exist yet?
If companies need to introduce new solutions on the market to create
new demand, how do they confidently develop successful ideas with
minimum risks?
We will answer later

First of all, we need to understand basic concepts
regardind sustained innovative processes for economic
growth (=prosperity), through three basic questions:
Did sustained innovation processes always exist?
If not, when did they start?
Why did they not start before?
In other words, we are interested in figuring out the sources can feed
sustained innovation processes for sustained growth.
What history teaches us, from an economic point of

view
is that:
the economic growth in the modern-era (starting from
the Industrial Revolution) was possible since it was selfsustained growth
the economic growth involved all the citizens and
created mobility across various social strata
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cgkfk
What the history teaches us, from a wider point of view
Social, material and capital resources are indispensable prerequisites to

successful innovation
Many inventions have failed (not self-sustained) because the social

resources vital for their realization (the capital, materials, and skilled
personnel) were not available.
The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are full of ideas for helicopters,

submarines, and airplanes, but few of these in his period reached even the
model stage because resources of one sort or another were lacking
Contextually, it is only from the 17 th Century with the Enlightment when we

assisted such a scientific revolution that we associate with Galileo,
Descartes, Newton, Bacon and many other giants: that a profound
intellectual change occurred in Europe after the Dark Ages.
Piano inclinato di Galileo: a) legge invariante che correla massa,

angolo , tempo e velocit; b) forze agenti sulla massa che rotola
lungo il piano inclinato.
The 3d edition of Global CEO Study from IBM

The third edition of IBMs biennial Global CEO study series (ed.2008) was based on
surveys of 1,130 CEOs, general managers and senior public sector and business leaders .
All of them viewed more demanding customers not as a threat, but as an opportunity to
differentiate
A collective wisdom points to an enterprise of the Future that is: hungry for
change, innovative beyond customer imagination, globally integrated, disruptive
by nature and genuine, not just generous.
Key-features of the enterprise of the future...

The enterprise of the future is
Hungry for change
It is capable of
changing quickly and
successfully.
Instead of merely
responding to
trends, it shapes
and leads them.
Market and industry
shifts are a chance
to move ahead of
the competition.
Innovative beyond
customer
imagination
The enterprise of
the Future
surpasses the
expectations of
increasingly
demanding
customers.
Globally
integrated
Disruptive by
nature
Genuine not just

generous
It takes advantage
of todays global
economy,
strategically
designed to
worldwide access
the best
capabilities,
knowledge and
assets
Radically it
challenges the
business model,
disrupting the basis
of competition.
Reinvents itself and
its entire industry..
It goes beyond
philanthropy and
compliance and
reflects genuine
concern for society
in all actions and
decisions.
Sustained innovation, that is success-innovation

technical break-trough
solutions
competitive
advantage
solutions
aggressive supplying
(on-demand roughsolutions)
Self-sustained
innovative solution
High
Performing
solutions
Customer
satysfying
solutions
(market success)
useful/friendly (high
receptivity solutions)

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Graduate engineering should have base

knowledge and methods

a thorough understanding of the body of engineering knowledge

Competency is commonly defined in learning as

the ability to perform activities in an occupational category or

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

Key-capabilities for engineering students

Bordogna (1997) quotes an US National Science Foundation (NSF, USA)

Furthermore, he states the essence of engineering is the process of

Pursuing the improvement change should intrinsically be

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

..in order to successfully entry in practice

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

What skills and attributes should be acquired by a graduate

Hoscette (2002) and Erlendsson (2001) have identified some

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

A Taxonomy of Core Competencies

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

and the final results

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

The 5 Dimensions of Learning: act for applying meaningfully

Job knowledge content: an example

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

What history teaches us, from an economic point of

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

What the history teaches us, from a wider point of view

Social, material and capital resources are indispensable prerequisites to

Many inventions have failed (not self-sustained) because the social

The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are full of ideas for helicopters,

Contextually, it is only from the 17 th Century with the Enlightment when we

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

Humans thinking-changes prepared the Industrial

Several natural philosophers in the Eighteenth Century were realizing

Until the Industrial Revolution (from middle 18 th to early 20 th Century), no

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

thanking to introduction of scientific meaning and

Basing on Newtons laws described Philosophiae Naturalis Principia

The Industrial Enlightenment can be viewed as a movement that insisted on

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

There are three basic questions regarding how innovation

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

We will answer later

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

What history teaches us, from an economic point of

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

What the history teaches us, from a wider point of view

Social, material and capital resources are indispensable prerequisites to

Many inventions have failed (not self-sustained) because the social

The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are full of ideas for helicopters,

Contextually, it is only from the 17 th Century with the Enlightment when we

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

Piano inclinato di Galileo: a) legge invariante che correla massa,

Dept of Mechanical Engineering

The 3d edition of Global CEO Study from IBM

Dept of Mechanical Engineering