More by luck than good judgement: Moral purpose in engineering education policy making for change

摘要

Since the end of the Second World War there has been a considerable growth in knowledge in what engineering education is about. This has been accompanied by a number of reports, particularly in the US, that to some extent are repetitive but in the language of the period. These reports were to a large extent based on informed opinion. These beliefs are deeply entrenched in Western Psyche and encompass beliefs about what students should learn, how they learn and how they should be taught. These views are obtained early being formed by the long experience of elementary, post-elementary and higher education and are often difficult to shift without a substantial chocs des opinions. Policy making is often made on the basis of opinion that has been informed by experience that makes itself into a self-fulfilling hypothesis that shuts out anything that is likely to create a dissonance. One consequence has been a growth of a gap between those who practice in classrooms and those who do educational research. In no other area of inquiry is the vast body of knowledge that is available on the theory and practice of education, theory taken in the broadest meaning of the term, ignored by those who make policy and practice in the classroom. It is contended here that that is morally irresponsible, and the fact that policy makers and practitioners do not have personal philosophies and theories of learning based on that world of knowledge is one of the causes of friction between these two groups. Decisions that work do so more by good luck, than good judgement. All should have received substantial training on which to build their advice, or consult with those undertaking research, and more particularly indicate research they think should be done. A not infrequent complaint is that teachers do not adapt to this or that learning strategy or use this or that particular tool (e.g. concept inventory). At the 2015 ASEE annual conference the representative of ABET lamented that academics had not used the assessment system to innovate. It is contended that innovation is unlikely in the absence of substantial prior knowledge that can enable an innovation to be progressed. It is similarly contended that the friction caused by the ABET proposals cannot be resolved without attention to knowledge that exists in the area of accreditation and assessment. The purpose of this paper is to review some of that research and scholarship as it relates to the proposition that university courses should produce graduates who are able to take up positions in industry without further training.