The global pandemic has caused most industries, including engineering, to adapt, adjust, and innovate their digitization techniques. On today’s episode of Innovation in the Classroom, I am joined by two engineering industry professionals, Michelle Boucher and Sirin Tekinay.
Michelle Boucher is the VP of Research for Engineering Practices at Tech-Clarity and Sirin Tekinay is the Dean of the College of Engineering at the American University of Sharjah. Both women have amazing insights into how the global pandemic has impacted engineering professionals, students, and teachers. The current pace of digitalization in the industry is affecting how prepared engineering students are when they enter the workforce and engineering education has begun to adjust its curriculum accordingly.
Sirin provides a fascinating take from the academia side of digitalization in engineering, addressing the mental health impacts of online classes for students, the adjustments that students have had to make in their projects, and her advice to simulate a campus experience. Michelle’s knowledge as a researcher brings in the industry point of view. She dives into the newfound importance of business skills in the engineering industry, the global consistencies she has found between universities, and what she believes is the key to preparing students to enter the industry as it rapidly becomes more digitized.
Tune in to learn how engineering education and industry are aligning, finding dissonance, and what Michelle and Sirin recommend for joint success.
Some Questions I Ask
Sirin, can you share your perspective on changing from a ‘push’ to a ‘pull’ approach in engineering education? (4:59)How have you found the students adjusting to this new normal? (9:15)Michelle, what do you think is really key to keeping this pace of innovation of digitalization to prepare students for working in the industry? (12:38)What forms of collaboration have you seen to be most effective? (18:19)How do we teach students soft skills? (23:22)Michelle, did you notice in your research that universities are leveraging software and technology to optimize learning? (29:50)What is your feedback for companies like Siemens to better serve academia? (35:11)
In This Episode You Will Learn
The global trends across universities that Michelle has seen in her research of digitization (3:30)How this semester has been different for Sirin (7:53)How Michelle and Sirin view the current relationship between academia and industry (15:04)The importance of cross-functional projects for students (21:58)How engineering curriculum has become more project-based (25:26)Why the educators Michelle interviewed said that COVID-19 adaptations have improved their learning environment (30:12)The trends that Sirin is seeing in engineering education (33:10)
Connect with Michelle
Connect with Sirin
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