Weaving Entrepreneurially Minded Learning Throughout a Civil Engineering Curriculum

摘要

The Kern Family Foundation has provided funding to Villanova University to implement the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) initiative. This nearly decade-old initiative seeks to instill concepts of Entrepreneurially Minded Learning (EML) into the undergraduate en-ineering curriculum. EML emphasizes educating the "whole engineer" by supplementing traditional engineering theory with nontechnical concepts related to curiosity, connections, and creating value (the three Cs). "Curiosity" encourages students to investigate and question the society that surrounds them within the context of the technical material they are learning in class. In short it encourages students to be problem seekers and definers as opposed to just problem solvers 'students are then ready to make "Connections" to synthesize new and old knowledge to create innovative solutions to problems. Lastly, "Creating Value" is about improving society and quality of life by creatively applying their engineering skills. It is important to note that this approach to education is not about creating start-ups or commercial products, rather, it is a way to foster inventive thinking. Nearly half of the faculty members in the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) department have participated in KEEN workshops that focus on implementation of EML in their respective courses. These faculty have woven EML throughout the CEE curriculum to ensure that students have assignments that relate to the three Cs every semester from freshman to senior year. These assignments are also used to fulfill ABET and ASCE Civil Engineering Program Criteria. This paper will describe class assignments for courses with EML content, extra-and co-curricular EML activities, the relationship between EML and ABET criterion 3 and the ASCE Civil Engineering Program Criteria, and provide thoughts on linking EML to educational assessment.