Producing “T-shaped” Engineering Graduates: The Impact of Student Clubs as Learning Communities

摘要

How may student clubs contribute to the attainment of “T-shaped” engineering education outcomes - graduates who are able to “succeed in a team-driven, culturally and ethnically diverse, and globally oriented workforce”? This study, which focuses on 300 engineering student clubs at 13 colleges of engineering, describes how these learning communities (i.e., student clubs) contribute to the attainment of the requisite (T-shaped) knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) or competencies. These competencies include design project and competition skills in applied or real world contexts together with mentoring, tutoring, and engineering career preparedness. The contribution of student clubs to entrepreneurship skills, STEM pipeline problem, international engineering education, and diversity is also highlighted.