The new changes to the engineering studies degree curriculum will allow for great perspective on the available paths students can take. The degree changes we are suggesting are systematically placed in other Lafayette College degrees. Ultimately, the critical paths we are suggesting is similar to the course structure of the International Affairs department at Lafayette College. The International Affairs department takes a similar approach in curriculum to help guide students to a desired path they would like to endure. After we consulted with the chair and international affairs Professor Angelika von Wahl, the degree starts with a “gateway class (IA 200) after completing 3 intro level courses. After that is time for students to decide on a world region (which is coordinated with a language) and on a theme (there are six)” (von Wahl). The student chooses a theme from a selection of these ideas: Global Conflict and Cooperation; Development Studies; Human Rights and Social Justice; Global Networks, Global Cities; Culture, Power, and Identity in the Modern World; and Global Environmental Studies and then chooses a world region: Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean; Middle East. She made it very apparent that the three main backbone courses of IA are IA 200, 280, and 400 but the themes and world region act as two wings that allow for expansion and concentrations. The decision making for these world regions, themes, and three intro level courses are guided through the advising process. This Lafayette department does an excellent job in planning out the paths and concentrations for students to successfully complete an international degree but within a certain scope. It is a great example of what the new engineering studies curriculum reform will resemble.
Taking some of the knowledge and structure of the international affairs program at Lafayette helped establish a fundamental understanding to concentrate the engineering studies program with its interdisciplinary features. For the curriculum reform for the engineering studies program, it will consist of concentrations just like IA, but will be called “critical paths”. Engineering studies majors are told to think critically about all situations in the world in order to make it a better place. Nothing is more fitting than using “critical paths” to critically think about the classes one is pursuing. These critical paths are of any choosing done by the engineering studies student, as long as the classes begin to fulfill requirements. For this reform, no classes are being added, no classes are being changed, no classes are adding new attributes to fulfill requirements. The reform only consists of providing classes that will fulfill common course of study requirements while within a critical path. What this does for the major in general is allow students to fill out the common courses of study section in complete degree audit while also pursuing a concentrated discipline they are interested in. From my experience, the major lacks the ability to help students find a concentrated discipline outside of engineering and instead leads the majority of the students to take unrelated courses to fill out requirements. Instead, the critical path methods will provide students with the ability to concentrate on another discipline that can contribute to their engineering studies degree and fill out common course of study requirements.
As mentioned above, the critical path a student desires to take is student dependent, for instance, if a student wants to pursue how specifically energy and its forms affects society and the environment, classes will be coordinated to allow students to optimize their schedule with classes geared towards that topic. First though, in order to understand what path may be best for certain students. The student must take a Critical Path Personality Test (CPPT) to determine the concentration that may be best suited for them. This test is designed to provide students with evidence that they should pursue a certain critical path because their personality and interests demonstrate a path accommodating to them. The CPPT is no different than a career test that many students have taken at the grade school level to help them determine a certain professional path to pursue. This time the CPPT provides feedback and guidance for students to pursue down a critical path fitted for them. The CPPT is a 50-100 question test that asks questions about various disciplines from management, energy, medicine, bio, technology, race, and even more. Each answer submitted to the question will be gathered into data. Once the final question is completed, the test will compile the data and will provide the student with various critical paths they should consider starting with the highest most compatible critical path for them to the lowest possible. The critical paths will show a diagram with various courses related to that critical path that also fulfill requirements for their common courses of studies. Now, not all common courses of study will be filled out by all critical paths, as some courses at Lafayette in those disciplines may not fit a certain attribute. Due to this concern, utilizing the CPPT critical paths and academic advisors will be beneficial to help optimize class considerations and make the most out of a students degree and time at Lafayette.
The CPPT provides students with various avenues to pursue and optimize their degree capabilities but when is the best time to receive this advice? Well, first year students coming into the engineering studies degree need to experience the first two semesters of introductory engineering courses to help build the critical thinking mindset. This includes the “ Seven foundation courses (Introduction to Engineering, three semesters of calculus, and one semester each of introductory chemistry, physics, and economics)” (Sanford pg. 9). Once the majority of these classes are complete, and most will be done besides Calculus 3, it becomes an appropriate time to begin to consider the CPPT. Like the engineering studies major, the CPPT is flexible as well, as noted earlier, many students consider coming into the engineering studies major at the end of their sophomore year. The test will be readily available for them, but obviously the later you take the test the less incentive there is to truly follow a critical path of classes because one may have already filled some requirements. The optimal scenario is any engineering studies student to take the CPPT early and receive feedback about various critical paths to optimize degree potential in common course of study. After completing the CPPT and coordinating with academic advisors, the student is ready to complete the engineering studies degree with a concentrated critical path corresponding to their personality and interests.
A detailed diagram below shows some possibilities of the critical paths available to engineering students after they complete the CPPT.
Critical Path Diagram
Figure 2. Critical Paths. Diagram (Major Jordan and Beatrice Arellano)
NOTE* critical path classes are only chosen from class offerings from Spring & Fall 2020; as a result there may be more classes available to fulfill these requirements but are not shown.
The diagrams above show just some of the available critical paths that are available to engineering studies students. As mentioned before, these critical paths contain the classes that appear to fit best in that path and simultaneously fulfills a requirement. There is one instance shown above, the environmental science critical path contains a yellow highlighted class called “GIS Environment & Society”. This class is highlighted because it does not fill the Quantitative Reasoning fulfillment, but the class description mentions working with various quantitative data to solidify and compile it. Students should mention any classes they think may be suitable for the critical path to their advisor and registrar. With acceptance between advisor and registrar, the class should be allowed to fulfill one of those requirements.
One popular critical path students tend to follow without even realizing it is the economics critical path. Engineering studies classes tend to gear towards economics because of some of the backbone classes like engineering economics and management. So an abundance of students feel this path is already established within the degree and leads many of them to having a minor in economics. Many students pursue professional fields in construction management that involves using both engineering and economic backgrounds. This critical path helps inform those students about more of the available economic classes that will simultaneously help complement their degree and fill out common courses of study requirements. For the economics critical path, Principles (Econ 101) and Foundations Int. Econ (Econ 210) proves to be two classes that fit the social science attribute in the way it looks at economics nationally and internationally. Quantitative reasoning is filled up with Financial Acc. & Analysis because it is involved with working with large quantitative data. These classes all combine to be a favorable piece for students entering a business engineering role making the economics critical path a key contributor and compliment to the engineering studies degree. This is what makes this path very attractive and appealing to engineering studies students.
Another critical path that compliments very well with engineering studies is the environmental science critical path. Many times, this critical path utilizes the same professors as the Engineering Studies department and as a result many of the classes fill requirements for both. Being an Engineering Studies major means having the ability to analyze the quantitative and qualitative world around us and asking how and why things are done. Engineers will always be needed to fix the problems in the world today, and this critical path aims directly at that by looking at climate change, emissions, and environmental sustainability. The various classes in this critical path correlate directly with climate change and its effect on society. Once again, this critical path is a great complement alongside the curriculum of engineering studies core classes.
The last critical path worth mentioning is the policy studies critical path. This critical path, like that of economics, often finds itself coordinating alongside the engineering studies degree not only at Lafayette but also in the real world. The phrase “Engineering is Political” is absolutely true because in everything done in the engineering world there are policies, regulations, and laws that must be abided to do it. For tech engineers, they must create a software that helps the world become closer in the way it uses social media but also not break privacy laws. Structural engineers must abide by policies and laws by national, state, and local governments. There is a rhyme and reason for everything in the engineering world. As a result, these policy and government classes are a great way for engineers to understand the structure of how certain laws and regulations affect their profession. Classes that Lafayette have to offer that help engineers understand this are Intro to Eng. and Public Policy, Intellectual Prop Law for Engr, and Planning the Built Environment just to name a few.
The above critical path diagrams are just some of the various paths that are available to students. Different paths can be coordinated through course catalog research and discussion with academic advisors. The critical paths are just a simplified way for students to use a concentrated path that fulfills requirements. Students can use the CPPT and critical paths or can continue to use the current model of engineering studies to select classes.
The goal of the CPPT is to demonstrate the various paths Engineering Studies students can explore and take on within the world of engineering while maintaining interdisciplinary education. Most important findings from learning research that have been piloted and integrated into engineering curricula around the country support the continuous integration of context and courses that promote transfer of existing knowledge and skills to other new contexts. The end goal of learning is the ability to use knowledge and skills flexibly in different situations. Success in meeting this goal requires that students transfer what they know to new settings or problems, which means first recognizing what is needed in a given context and then accessing and using the appropriate knowledge and intellectual skills. Transfer is an active process of its own, and does not happen easily or automatically as “it is essential to create a curriculum with the conditions and opportunities for transfer” (Ambrose et al., 17). The CPPT will enable and motivate Engineering Studies students to utilize such transfer of knowledge and skills between their engineering background and into their specified focus path, whether it be in policy studies, architecture, environmental studies, or economics.
We believe that incorporating the CPPT into the Engineering Studies curriculum and exposing it to students early on in their Lafayette career will lead to an increase in enrollment of students entering the major. By giving students the platform to figure out what they are interested in and what they may want to do for the next few years, we believe it can solve the issue of the unbalance of the natural flexibility of the Engineering Studies education by providing a sense of direction for them that can lead to their potential future career paths. Students will be able to adapt and hone in on their specific critical path and become more familiar in social, economic, political, and technical contexts. The CPPT can also be used as a marketing technique for the engineering program, as it will be the first and only degree that utilizes the same methods as International Affairs and Policy Studies. This exposure may be best used within the Office of Admissions as tour guides highlight the CPPT to prospective families and students. We believe that the image new Engineering Studies program offers is a way for students to explore their path on their own and properly prepare them for the real world. This new application will rejuvenate the degree and bring more attraction. Finally, while our goal is for students to incorporate other departments and disciplines to strengthen their Engineering Studies education, we also see it as a way to get EGRS education into those departments. This can result in a mutually beneficial learning environment for all, giving and receiving certain skills that further promotes interdisciplinary knowledge and strengthens Lafayette’s liberal arts education.
At the conclusion of this report there is a further in depth analysis of the critical paths along with potential class registrations for students from freshman to senior year to show how to properly utilize the paths.
Click below to learn about the economic context of the project.