iFoundry West Coast SwingIllinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education

Philosophical, Organizational & Systems Innovations for Effective Change

D. E. Goldberg, A. Cangellaris, & R. PriceUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

{deg,cangella,price1}@illinois.edu

Motivation• We live in a creative era, but… • Teach engineering curriculum formed in

crucible of WW2/cold war.• Need for change is widely recognized,

but…• Efforts at change local, misdirected, or

unsuccessful.• One-by-one efforts inherently limited.• Successes don’t diffuse & curriculum

change is slow.• Question: Can engineering education

change? Yes, but must direct efforts at the real problems.

Roadmap• Failure of engineering education change efforts.• Systems view of the problem of academic change.• iFoundry: Cross-departmental incubator or pilot.• What engineers don’t learn: A view from industrial-based

senior design.• 3Space as balanced framework: ThingSpace, ThinkSpace,

& FolkSpace.• Brass tacks: 6 foci for 2009-2009: ThingLab, 3Space Studios,

Operation Fresh, Admissions, Rollout planning & EOTF2.0.• Jerry says, “It’s for the kids:” Financial ways to help.• Alums & friends contributing their brains & time, too.

Can Engineering Education Change?• Creative era: category creators,

not just category enhancers.• Many failed efforts:

• Corporations: Sponsor research, conferences, educational change.

• Alums understand need for change in their work.

• Academy: NSF coalitions, Engineer of 2020, Duderstadt report, Olin College.

• Bottom line: Some success, no diffusion across departments, colleges, borders.

• Systems problem: Not firing on all cylinders.

• Change efforts isolated.• Philosophically unsound &

conceptually unclear.

Why Curriculum Doesn’t Change• Organizational resistance: Academic

NIMBY (not in my back yard) problem. OK to reform, but don’t change MY course!

• Content errors after WW2: Math and science squeezed out design in WW2 and cold war. Don’t have correct content or materials (books, cases, artifacts) to teach anything else.

• Reform doesn’t scale: Best exemplars require faculty heroics, funding, and exclusive dedication to undergraduate education. Won’t xfer verbatim to Illiniois with 5700 ugrads and world-class research enterprise.

Vannevar Bush (1890-1974)

iFoundry: Unblocking the Organization

• Collaborative, interdepartmental pilot unit. Permit change.

• Volunteers. Enthusiasm for change among faculty & student participants.

• Existing authority. Use signatory authority for modification of curricula for immediate pilot.

• Respect faculty governance. Permanent changes go through usual channels.

• Scalability. 300 @ teaching U vs. 5700 at research U.

• Open-source curriculum change. Do it in the open.http://www.illigal.uiuc.edu/web/ifoundry/files/2007/08/ifoundry_concept.pdf

What Engineers Don’t Learn: & Why They Don’t Learn It

• Experience from real-world senior design.• After 4 years they

– Can’t ask questions (Socrates 101).– Can’t label things (Aristotle 101).– Can’t model qualitatively (Aristotle 102, Hume

101). – Can’t decompose problems (Descartes 101). – Can’t experiment or measure (Locke 101).– Can’t visualize/draw (daVinci/Monge 101).– Can’t communicate (Newman 101).

• Huge “quality” failure: “product” (engineering students) inadequate to intended function.

• 7 failures as decomposition for repair.• Teach critical/creative thought: context of design.

Socrates (470-399 BCE)

Start with Artifacts, Not Analysis• Cold war content shifted

to math and science, but these are not the essence of engineering.

• Place artifacts (things)—products, processes, and systems—at center.

• Recognize importance of engineeering thought (think) and engineering as social process (folk).

• Yields philosophically well grounded decomposition.

3Space: A Balanced, Systems Approach

• Content, 3Space:– ThingSpace: Artifacts as key

product of engineering thought.

– ThinkSpace: Engineers do more thinking than mere math & science.

– FolkSpace: Engineering is performed by and for groups of people.

• Cold war curriculum unbalanced toward math & science in ways unacceptable in a creative era.

3Space

Big Picture: Aims of Revisions

Professional MS Degree w/ Advanced Analysis

BS

MS

1st yr

Fa08/Sp09 Foci: 6 Elements

• Fall08:• ThingLab: Lab

transforms graphics to ThingSpace basics.

• 3Space Studios: Digital media to promote open & viral curriculum development.

• Operation Fresh: Transformation of the freshmen year of engineering.

• Spring09– Admissions: Design and

implement admissions process for first cohort.

– Rollout planning: Coursework & changes in place for Fa09 students.

– Engineer of the Future: April 1st part of Olin-Illinois Partnership.

The Students Are Coming! Fa09 Rollout Goals

• Increased balance in 3Space: from cold war to creative era curriculum (category creators & enhancers).

• Increased joy of engineering: Improved recruitment & retention, including women & minorities.

• Increased student choice: Improved satisfaction and ownership of degree.

• Integrated student life from get go.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

• Different departments choose different options:– Basic iFoundry option: ENG 100++ and HAPI

themes.– Student-life plans: Teamwork for Quality

Education (TQE).– Optional options: Freshman Think/Thingspace

Option & Qualitative science swap.– Departmental pilot changes.

Cast of 1000s: Not Just Engineers• Ray Fouche (History) history and

culture of technology. • David E. Goldberg (IESE) innovation

theory, engin philosophy/history.• Laura Hahn (Center for Teaching

Excellence) student engagement & improving pedagogy.

• Bill Hammack (ChemE) technology for civilians.

• Laura Hollis (Business Administration & TEC) law & entrepreneurship.

• Alex Kirlik (Human Factors) human factors and engin psych.

• Russ Korte (Education) transition to school & work.

• Jim Leake (IESE), visualization, graphics, product realization.

• Michael Loui (ECE). Engineering ethics & professionalism.

• Deana McDonagh (Art & Design) emotional design.

• Ray Price (IESE), emotional intelligence and leadership.

• Christian Sandvig (Communications), gaming, communications & tech.

• Sharra Vostral (Gender & Women Studies) women, technology & design

• David Weightman (Art & Design), industrial design.

• Sarah Zehr (Career Services), communications & career planning.

Jerry Says “It’s For the Kids”

• iFoundry student scholars: $2k/year/student.

• iFoundry fellows: $5k/semester/fellow. • Inquiries in Engineering Education

Lecture Series (IEE): $10k - $20k/year.• iFoundry teams (25 students, like

baseball team): $10k-25k/team/year.• 3SpaceStudios digital upgrade: $100k-

250k one time.• iFoundry endowment and naming

opportunity ($5M - $10M).Jerry Lewis (b. 1926)

iFoundry Wants You!

• Subscribe YouTube, SlideShare, Facebook.• Virtual visit: YouTube videos and

SlideShare ppts, tales from the trenches.• Real visit: short (lecture), medium

(Engineer in Residence) or long (Prof of Practice).

• Promote iFoundry aid from your company.

• Team mentor/sponsor (see previous page).

• EOTF2.0 & Alliance for Promoting Innovation in Engineering Education.

• Advisory board in formation.

More Information

• iFoundry: http://www.ifoundry.illinois.edu • ETSI: http://www.illigal.uiuc.edu/web/etsi • Workshop on Philosophy & Engineering:

http://www-illigal.ge.uiuc.edu/wpe • Engineer of the Future 2.0:

http://engineerofthefuture.olin.edu/

• YouTube: www.youtube.com/illinoisfoundry

• SlideShare: www.slideshare.net/ifoundry