Use the following study guide to help focus your time and effort in preparing for your

first Reading Assessment Quiz (RAQ). Questions on the material may appear in the

form of multiple choice or short answer questions.

1. What do Goldberg and Somerville think the difference is between 20th Century

and 21st Century engineers? Why is that difference important?

2. What are the key skills for the 21st Century engineer, according to Goldberg

and Somerville? Why are they important?

3. Why is engineering considered a profession?

4. According to Andrews, what role do engineers have to play in meeting climate

change challenges in the 21st Century?

5. How is engineering regulated in Canada?

6. What role does self-regulation play in the engineering profession?

7. What is the difference between how engineering is regulated in Canada, versus

the United

8. States and countries abroad?

9. What is a “factor of safety” and why is it important?

10. What is the Code of Ethics? What role does it play?

11. How do Engineering Associations protect public welfare?

12. In order to be admitted to the profession of engineering in Canada, what

conditions must be satisfied?

13. What is “professional development” and why is it important?

14. What are some reasons that a licenced engineer can be subject to disciplinary

measures by his or her licencing Association?

15. What is Jennifer MacLennan’s main argument in the article “Why

Communication Matters”?

16. MacLennan argues that there are several implications these days for people

who are studying for a profession. What are these, and why are they important?

17. What is Susan de la Vergne’s main argument in “Dare to Write Well”?

18. Why does so much of business writing go unread, according to de la Vergne?

What can writers do in light of this?

Engineering 3101 – RAQ Quiz #1 Study Guide

1. In the past, engineers were category enhancers, making existing products and technologies

faster, better, and more efficient, so mastery of the known used to be enough. Today, however,

engineers do so much more. They are no longer category enhancers; they are category

creators, bringing to fruition things that don't yet exist.

2. Noticing Listening Questioning (just read below paragraph to get idea)

A Focus for the Future

When working below the waterline, we're working explicitly with a fuller picture of education -- a picture that includes language, body, and emotion -- and this leads us to three particular skills: noticing, listening, and questioning (NLQ), which are the skills that enable people to learn new things. In Big Beacon's work around the globe, we've found that explicit experiential training in noticing, listening, and open-ended questioning transforms schools by (1) giving teachers the tools they need to become aware of the perception, needs, and untapped potential of students, and (2) giving students the tools they need to become aware of their own stories and purpose, and to guide their own learning in productive directions of their own choosing. NLQ is not the whole story, but the current system becomes more amenable to the needed changes as more students and faculty members practice NLQ. Let's examine each of these briefly in turn:

Noticing. Noticing is central to human change, and R.D. Laing, a Scottish psychiatrist, said it well: The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we

fail to notice, there is little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and

deeds.

Change and innovation begin with awareness, and below the waterline skills are those that get started

when people notice. A portion of our brain, the middle pre-frontal cortex, gives us the capability to

examine our thoughts and feelings, as well as those of others. The brain science is becoming clear:

The more we exercise our ability to notice, the better we become at it. Sometime this capability is

calledmindfulness, and the practice of executive coaching aims at improved noticing and awareness.

Even hi-tech companies such as Google are investing in mindfulness training for their engineers.

Listening. There are different ways to listen, and one distinction is betweenlistening from

ego and empathetic listening. When we listen from ego, we listen to others strictly from our own

point of view. When someone tells a story of going to Paris, we respond, "Oh yes, I love Paris and

have been their X times." This isn't necessarily a bad kind of listening, but everything the speaker

says is an opportunity for the listener to share from his or her own point of view. Cocktail parties are

built on this sort of listening, so it definitely has its place in communication.However, to educate a

new generation below the waterline requires us to teach students how to listen at a deeper level.

Empathetic listening occurs when the listener really focuses on what the other person is saying and

doesn't assume he or she knows what the other person means. For example, someone may say, "I had

trouble at school the other day." To listen at this higher level you might then ask, "What do you mean

by 'trouble'?" In other words, you listen and try to find out how someone is using language and what

they really mean. It's a deeper kind of listening where the listener attempts to understand the

person's perspective through the distinctions they're making. When you listen to people and their

distinctions, you hear their emotions, troubles, concerns, and joy. You hear clues about people,

business, and life that others often miss, which leads to deeper understanding of issues and greater

clarity -- two things that tomorrow's engineers will need to master.

Questioning. Two important types of questions are information gathering and open-ended

questions. Both are critical. To get the facts, we ask lots of information gathering questions, and they

have short, fact-filled answers. But to really be creative and to explore below the waterline, the most

powerful questions are usually open-ended. Open-ended questions beg a person to reflect on

whatever comes to mind, to seek more than one answer, and to explore new threads. In other words,

they are powerful tools to trigger reflection.One simple way to ensure that you're asking powerful

questions is to begin every question with the word "what." There is no such thing as the perfect

"what" question, and many of them (accompanied by empathetic listening are quite powerful), but

here are a few generic examples:

What would success look like in this situation?

In what other ways can you think about this?

What is the other person thinking, feeling, and wanting?

What are you missing or avoiding?

What can you learn from this mistake or failure? ... from this success?

What's possible?

Having students and teachers master the art of the powerful question is itself a critical way to transform

education and build below-the-waterline skill.

3. A degree is required; engineers are experts in their field. Require “specialized knowledge,

intensive preparation and instruction in skills and methods as well as in the scientific, historical,

or scholarly principles underlying such skills and methods”

4. Engineers will play the role of reducing emissions by increasing efficiency of existing

processes, machinery, buildings, and infrastructure. We must reduce energy waste, especially

energy wasted in transportation, in heating buildings, and in electrical production and delivery,

and we must increase efficiency by re-using materials and recycling waste into useful energy or

products.

5. Each province/territory has passed a law that establishes engineering and/or geoscience as a

profession. Each Act creates an association of professional engineering and/or geoscientists.

Obtaining a license in Canada typically requires a 4-year university degree and an internship –

usually 4 years of acceptable experience.

6. The government delegates the responsibility for admission, for standards of practice, and for

discipline, to the members of the profession. Each province/territory has passed an Act to

create an Association of professional engineers, which in turn regulates the profession. The

Association must enforce the Act, regulations, and bylaws.

7. In the US, the profession is not “self-regulating.” State governments appoint licensing boards

to license engineers, and the governments establish the regulations that engineers must follow.

Therefore, politicians typically play a more significant role in establishing and enforcing

regulations in the US system than they do in Canada. Another difference is that a Canadian

license confers both the right to practice the profession, as well as the right to the title (P.Eng.

or P.Geo). In the US, licensing confers only the right to use the title. As a result, anyone can

practice. (i.e. “industrial exemption,” permitting entire industries to function with unlicensed

engineers).

8. “factor of safety” is the ratio of load capacity to expected load, on a component, system, or

structure. It is one calculation that summarizes whether a design properly protects the “life,

health, property or the public welfare.” It is important for engineers to ensure that the factor of

safety is adequate and is correctly calculated.

9. The Code of Ethics is a set of rules of personal conduct. Every engineer and geoscientist must

be familiar with this code and endeavor to follow it.

10.Public welfare is protected by: Admitting only qualified people to the profession Establish

standards of professional practice and Code of Ethics Discipline negligent, incompetent, or

unscrupulous practitioners (when necessary

11.Conditions to become a licensed professional engineer: Education. Must have adequate

academic qualifications. A university degree from an accredited university engineering

program. Experience. Must satisfy the experience requirements. Most jurisdictions require 4

years; at least 1 year must be in a Canadian environment. Knowledge of professional practice

and ethics. Typically, every applicant must write and pass the professional exam on Canadian

law and ethics. Language. Must be able to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing,

in the working language of the province or territory. Character. Must be of good character, as

determined mainly from references. Citizenship. All provinces (except Quebec) require

Canadian citizenship or landed immigrant status. Residence. Most provinces are eliminating

residency requirements. Provinces with this requirement issue temporary licenses to non-

resident engineers. Age. Must have reached legal age of majority, which is 18 in most of

Canada.

12. Professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal

development and career advancement. It is important because it is essential for engineers to

keep their knowledge and skills current so that they can deliver the high quality that safeguards

the public and meets the expectations of the customers and the requirements of their

profession.

13. Causes for disciplinary action to licensed engineers: Professional misconduct Incompetence

Negligence Breach of the Code of Ethics Physical or mental incapacity Conviction of a serious

offense

14. Maclennan’s main argument in her article is that communication is the key to success. She

believes it is essential in specific professional careers including engineering. Emphasis is

increasingly being placed on soft skills, one of the main ones being communication. Those is

scientific professions spend most of their time engaged in some form of communication. It is a

skill that is required for a job at any level.

15. Implications for people who are studying for a profession: Communication skills are both

highly valued and highly sought-after by employers ‘Soft skills’ of communication such as team

building, empathy, self-awareness, ethics, and cooperation are taking on equal or greater value

in the eyes of employers. Employers believe most new graduates cannot adequately perform

the communication tasks expected of them in their positions Professional programs have been

slow to react to this expansion in emphasis on communication skills, typically only providing

students with courses that cover the traditional skills and fail to address the other

communications skills that are essential to professional success.

16.

17. Technical standards are formal documents that establish uniform engineering or technical

criteria, methods, processes and practices developed through an accredited consensus process.

18. It gives you ownership on the product/invention. If you want to make money or sell the

invention, you must have it patented - almost all potential buyers or manufacturers will not buy

it if product isn't patented.

19.The main argument in “Dare to Write Well” is that being able to effectively communicate a

message through writing is an important skill to have. Susan de la Vergne demonstrates how

the use of a few simple tips can improve your writing; she stresses that “just because everyone

else’s business writing is boring doesn’t mean yours has to be.” She is inspiring people to take

pride in their writing.

20.“a great deal of business writing goes unread. Why? Because it’s boring. The work isn’t

boring, but the writing about it is, and everyone expects it to be. That’s why many of us don’t

set aside time to read documents. We don’t like to read boring writing.” In light of this, writers

can use the tips that she describes in the article. #1: Express the Action. Using verbs are more

efficient (use fewer words) and they also make a more lively impression. #2: Avoid Tired

Language. Using tired clichés (“the greatest thing since sliced bread”) is no longer effective, it

becomes transparent. Freshen up your language.