Evolution and Revolution of ICT Education Workshop in Beijing

ICT Education: Evolution and Revolution Workshop on Innovations in ICT Education Beijing, China Oct. 22, 2012 Michael Lightner, Prof. and Chair ECEE University of Colorado, Boulder 2012 VP EAB IEEE 2006 IEEE President Moshe Kam, Prof. and Head ECE Drexel 2012 IEEE Past President

Outline • Caveats and disclaimers • Engineering education and previous reforms • Evolution • The fundamentals may be shifting • The profession is changing • Revolution • The tsunami facing higher education • At least in the US

The Beginning of European Engineering Education • By the mid-1600s, artillery and fortifications had grown so complex that European armies began training officers in math and mechanics • The term “Engineer” has been in use (in the current sense) only for the last 200 years • Engineering education was formalized in France • School of Bridges and Highways, 1775 (Jean Parronet) • École Polytechnique, 1794 (Lazare Carnot and Gaspard Monge)

First Engineering Schools in the US • Revolutionary America had to rely on Civil Engineers from Europe for major projects • In 1802 the Army established the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to train artillery and engineering officers • Sylvanus Thayer, commandant after 1817, transformed West Point into the nation's first engineering school by copying the École Polytechnique • After 1825 courses in Civil Engineering were became available in Washington College, Princeton, New York University, and Vanderbilt • RPI (1828); University of Virginia (1833) • http://www.answers.com/topic/engineering-education-1#ixzz1CZzjL7Fn

EE education in the US and Europe: the first 50 years in a glance • Early EE departments were established in the last 20 years of the 19th century • Most grew out of Physics departments • Curricula focused on AC and DC circuits and power distribution • B.Sc. Degree was the norm for faculty • Plus hands-on training in industry • After World war I communication options appear • Little academic research • In 1925 only one MIT EE faculty member had a Ph.D. • Half of the faculty had a B.Sc degree + practical experience Terman 1976

The Impact of World War II • The rise of new technology found the field unprepared • Most “EE work” was performed by scientists from other disciplines, especially Physics • Radar, microwaves, control systems, guided missiles, proximity fuses • The case was reform was clear Terman 1976

The First Reform (1945-1955) • Overhaul of textbooks and courses • A new book shelf • Focus on the fundamentals • Mathematics and Physics • Introducing Physics-based Calculus as the basic first step of the engineering curriculum • De-emphasis of classes on “engineering practice” and apprenticeship • Drafting, surveying, practicum Impetus for reform: new technology Terman 1976

The First Reform (1945-1955) • Large expansion of graduate programs • Beginning of federal funding of academic engineering research • Emergence of new requirements and expectations from engineering faculty members • At least an M.S. degree • In many institutions – demonstration of ability to conduct independent research • Educate new Ph.D. students • Obtain external support for research • Painful transition in many institutions

The emergence and rise of graduate programs in engineering 1960-1975 • Significant growth in the number of graduate engineering programs • Differentiation between the objective and nature of MS and PhD programs • The impact of strong graduate programs is being felt in industry… • Strong graduate programs start developing their own industries • In 1962 the first US Computer Science program is established

High Tech Industry is linked to availability of strong and well-trained engineer corps • Silicon Valley would not exist without Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley • Boston Route 128 would not be possible without MIT and Harvard • Austin’s Silicon Gulch is there because of the University of Texas – Austin • DSP Valley is around the University of Leuven, Belgium • Kansai Science City is linked to Osaka University • Numerous examples in China

The “Axioms” • The post-WWII model of interlinked teaching and research in engineering academic programs continues to be dominant around the world • The best “stand-alone” research labs continue to have strong links to universities • The connection between engineering and economic development has now become axiomatic both in developed and developing countries • A key justification for continued support of engineering programs

Differentiation and Compartmentalization1975-1985 • Many engineering programs develop “tracks” • Often available only in the Senior year • EE: “Signal processing”“Power and Control”“Biomedical Devices”“Computers”“Antennas and Propagation” • Computer Engineering programs proliferate • The emergence of the ECE department • ‘Secession’ of Computer Science is complete • New programs emerge in Biomedical Engineering

The impetus for the second US reform (1990-2003) • Desire to use emerging technology to improve instruction • Personal computer, digital communication and networking • The sense that the pendulum has swung too much toward Engineering Science • High attrition rate of students in the early years • Attributed to the abstract nature of preparatory classes – in US only slightly more than 50% of students entering engineering graduate with an engineering degree • Graduates perceived to be deficient in communication and presentation skills Serov 1997

The impetus for the second US reform (1990-2003) • Graduates perceived to be unable to take into consideration economic, social, and ethical considerations; can’t work in teams • Increased economic gap between engineering and practitioners of the ‘professions’ • Continued failure to attract minorities and women to engineering • A plethora of new proposals for better pedagogical approaches for engineering Serov 1997

General Outline of the Second Reform in the US • Started with the 1988 NSF-funded E4 experiment at Drexel University • Continued by establishment of NSF coalitions of schools, which operated 1992-2002 • Gateway, SUCCEED • The coalitions developed new curricular materials, ideas and structures • Implementation and scaling proved difficult • Adoption of coalition-created instructional material and methods outside home institutions was limited

Formalization of Second Reform in US • ABET Engineering Criteria 2000, EC 2000 was the formalization of the concerns of the second reform • Maintain high level of engineering science while including/emphasizing new elements … • Team work • Capstone design • Ethics and societal impact • Globalization • Communication • Quality control assessment/feedback mechanisms

Impetus for a Third Reform – Evolution and Revolution • The fundamentals may be shifting • Modern computing is not integrated properly in engineering education • Life sciences becoming more important • Web 2.0 and internet causing fundamental shifts

Impetus for a Third Reform The Fundamentals may be shifting Modern computing is not integrated properly in engineering education

Computing is Changing the Nature of Engineering Work • The use of computing tools has pervaded almost all areas of engineering • Look under the hood of your car • Look under the hood of your Spectrum Analyzer • Engineering education did not yet catch up • For us it is still “computer aided design” • For industry this is the only design that there is • We continue to teach many subjects as if symbolic computation and computers do not exist

A Few Examples • We continue to teach again and again how to find, guess and synthesize integrating factors • We still teach students how to use approximations and rules of thumb most of which will never ever be used • Think about Bode Plots and Root Locus Methods • How about Karnaugh maps • Fundamentals of software writing and software testing are often left for self exploration • And yet these are of increasing significance for engineers on the job

Cloud Computing • Obvious impacts • Change CS/IT education to understand requirements for cloud implementations • Institutions using cloud-based approaches for email, learning management systems, social computing • Non-obvious impacts • Data, both large and small, from real sources allow new, real world, authentic problems to be explored at all levels of engineering education • Resources available globally reducing barriers to access

Computing vs. Programming (1) • Computing, herein, refers to use of specialized packages for computing certain results and for symbolic manipulation • Could be within more general packages such as Matlab, Mathematica, Alpha, LTSpice • Allows larger and real world problems to be done by students • Obviates the need for many specialized techniques that reduce dimensionality of large problems • Students need to use these computational tools as tools to think with, not just tools to complete an assignment

Computing vs. Programming (2) • Programming focuses on developing code for particular purposes • An important discipline and skill which is not taken seriously enough in most current engineering curricula • The erroneous assumption is that this is an add-on that students can learn on their own • Another erroneous assumption is that programming for production is not done by engineers

Thoughts for the Future • The role of computing in the education of engineers needs to be re-thought • Computing skills can no longer be add-ons and nice-to-haves • As analytical skill needed by engineers, computing may have become as least as fundamental as Calculus

Impetus for a Third Reform The Fundamentals may be shifting Integrating Life Sciences into the ECE Curricula

Intersection of Life Sciences & ECE • Data and Image analysis • Medical Image analysis • All the –omics (genomics, proteomics, glucomics, etc) • Optics and advanced microscopy • Telemedicine/Telehealth • Health Informatics • Prostheses • Robotics, cognitive, sensory (cochlear, visual) • In vivo sensors • Biochips • Bionanophotonics

Student Interest • Significant student interest in bio-x engineering • Bioengineering, biomedical engineering, biological engineering • Other departments are pushing strongly into these areas • Biomedical and Bioengineering departments • Mechanical engineering departments • Chemical engineering departments • Biological engineering departments • ECE often challenged to have significant bio-presence in the curriculum

And there is more … • New approaches to education in Power and Energy • Engineering as enhancer of quality of life • Entertainment engineering, media, games • Grand Challenge Problems in the curriculum

Impetus for a Third Reform The Profession is Changing… Geographically

A Global Challenge • Educate future engineers to work in a transnational environment • E.g., encourage “a semester abroad” and exchange programs • Introduce pertinent international trends into the curriculum • Including education in business and law • Provide resources to engineers to understand industrial and economical trends that affect the profession • Develop a global system of credential and accreditation recognition

Impetus for a Third Reform The Profession is Changing… The Rise of the Service Economy

The Role of Service Economy is Increasing • Increased importance of the service sector in industrialized economies • Look at the Fortune 500 • …more service companies • …fewer manufacturers • The old dichotomy between product and service has been replaced by a service-product continuum

“Servitization of products” • Today we have the commodization of our products tomorrow we will have the servitization of our products • Products today have a higher service component than in previous decades • Virtually every product today has a service component to it • Many products are being transformed into services

Revolution • Collective learning • New tools changing the idea of labs • Internet and Machine Learning are providing the basis for revolutionary changes in higher education, with engineering and computer science as the clear first targets • This is made even more compelling as more is known about how we learn • Note that we professors are the best model for didactic learning – after all we succeeded in the traditional system • Can be hard for us to accept new perspectives – seems like either coddling the students or cheating

Collective Learning • Solutions to all textbook problems available online • Many blogs and forums on engineering topics more responsive and informative than professors and TAs • Makers movement • Online communities using tools such as Arduino, small embedded processors, 3D printers, and more • Authentic communities supporting the design and building of exciting projects • Much more engaging than typical university labs

National Instruments MyDAQ • A lab in your pocket • EE, ME, Control….

MyDAQ

Altera DE0-Nano

Arduino • Simple and inexpensive microcontroller • MANY peripherals (shields) • HUGE community of hobbyists • Great online help

Collective learning - MOOCs • Challenges from for-profit institutions • Challenges from certificate programs • If continuous education is the norm for a working professional, how does that manifest in the classroom? • Is the lecture still relevant? The classroom? • Important reading (there are many more) • A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change Douglas Thomas, John SeelyBrown • From Abelard to Apple, Richard DeMillo. • DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education Anya Kamenetz • Disrupting the Classroom: How Disruptive Innovation Can Deliver Quality and Affordability to Postsecondary Education, Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn, Louis Caldera, Louis Soares, Innosight Institute, Feb 2011

http://pcpp.zyante.com

http://pcpp.zyante.com • Interactive animated content for C and C++ • Developed by experienced faculty at three campuses of the Univ. of California and Univ. of Arizona • Partnered with CodeLab • Each sections has assignments that can be graded automatically • Built in learning management system • The material has been used by about 200 students in five courses at three universities, • and feedback has been outstanding, both from instructors and students. • Fall 2012 another 300+ students. • Spring 2013 800 students multiple universities.

Evolution and Revolution of ICT Education Workshop in Beijing