Projects in Undergraduate Engineering Education in America

A survey of engineering educators in the US was conducted to ascertain actual practice regarding the delivery of engineering projects in the curriculum. The survey focused only on project experiences carrying significant academic credit that are free-standing elements of the curriculum; that is, they are not associated with or part of a course. Inquiries covered: the degree to which such activities meet requirements for graduation, accreditation and/or professional licensure; the extent of involvement of off-campus professionals in the conduct of the project, and in its support and its evaluation and assessment; the size and make-up of student teams in such activities, and the preparation and evaluation techniques used for team efforts; and the degree to which faculty members act as advisors or teachers. This paper briefly describes what is meant generally by the project mode of instruction in engineering education in the US, and describes the breadth of pedagogy in the current delivery of engineering projects represented by the survey responses, and by the engineering education literature discussing project education. The paper is intended to provide a basis for the international exchange of ideas on how engineering project education is being presented in various nations. Current trends in US engineering education that affect project education are also highlighted for comparison with those in other countries.     

All the King's Horses and All the King's Men: justifying higher education

ABSTRACT This article addresses the question‘What is the justification of higher education in modern society?’ It takes issue with writers such as Alasdair Macintyre and Allan Bloom, who argue that the fragmentation of value characteristic of modernity has undermined the possibility of providing a coherent justification of higher education. Against MacIntyre and Bloom, I argue that we should understand education as a means of developing reflective consciousness in students, and that that will require fragmentation and the immanent conflict of traditions rather than a background of agreed values.     

THE NATURE OF OBJECTIVITY WITH THE RASCH MODEL

Although it has been claimed that the Rasch model leads to a higher degree of objectivity in measurement than has been previously possible, this model has had little impact on test development. Population-invariant item and ability calibrations, together with the statistical equivalency of any two item subsets, are supposedly possible if the item pool has been calibrated by the Rasch model. Initial research has been encouraging, but the implications of underlying assumptions and operational computations in the Rasch model for trait theory have not been clear from previous work. The current paper presents an analysis of the conditions under which the claims of objectivity will be substantiated, with special emphasis on the nature of equivalent forms. It is concluded that the real advantages of the Rasch model will not be apparent until the technology of trait measurement becomes more sophisticated.     

Contributions and Limitations in the Use of Computers in Counselor Training

This article examines the role of computer technology in counselor preparation. Three aspects of counselor training—acquisition of facts and theory, development of specific skills, and personal and professional development—are discussed in terms of the potential contributions and limitations of computers in training efforts.     

Library services for management trainees in the NHS: report of an investigation

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Life's Ethical Symphony

Most modern moral theories are impartialist in character. They perceive the demands of morality as standing in opposition to partial concerns and acting as constraints upon them. In this paper I argue that our partial concerns in general, and our love and concern for others in particular, are not ultimately at odds with the demands of morality, impartially understood, but are the necessary preconditions of our being motivated by impartial morality. If we are to care about morality, we must first care about people and things other than morality. If we are to be educated morally, we must first be educated in the emotions.     

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