The project is working to formalize and dramatically expand the reach of the Engineering Cultures course materials and learning activities that have proven successful at enabling engineering students to take initial steps toward global competency. The investigator is producing and assessing three short textbooks introducing students to what it means to be an engineer and what engineers have valued as their knowledge in Germany, France, and Japan, and a fourth textbook introducing students and instructors to a method for collaborative problem definition called "location, knowledge, and desire." The three textbook address four categories of questions: (a) how did the country evolve; (b) how have engineers emerged in this country; (c) what is a typical career trajectory for an engineer; (d) what are key emerging trends for engineers and engineering? The overview volume gives a brief presentation of content knowledge from a variety of countries and introduces students to the "location, knowledge, and desire" framework. The investigator also is working to ensure that these new learning materials genuinely enhance student learning by developing and administering several practices for formative and summative assessment. The evaluation effort, under the direction of an independent expert, includes formal reviews of the instructional material by content experts and measurement of student learning using multiple choice tests, essays scored for content, and surveys of student learning gains.
