Philosophy and Engineering Education : Practical Ways of Knowing

Pragmatism attends to the practical outcomes of what we think and do, the social community in which we practice, and the bases of experience to inform our ideas and practices. Practice theories help explain what we do as complex systems of activity. Together, pragmatism and practice theories help broaden our understanding of the nature of engineering work as a social practice having important consequences for individuals and society. The practical nature of engineering embedded in our complex social and community systems is emphasized. Of all the pragmatists John Dewey's influence on education has been the most profound.He promoted social democracy in education. Although he founded experimental schools with this as their goal of major interest, to engineering educators his promotion of problem solving through a form of inquiry is his major attraction. Its modern embodiment is problem-based learning. It requires teachers to become facilitators of learning rather than transmitters of knowledge. How, within the framework of a traditionally oriented curriculum Dewey's epistemology of inquiry-based learning might be introduced is discussed. Lonergan's basic method of the human mind underlying specialized methods offers a basis for a unified theory and pedagogy of engineering. It also provides for a conception of engineering that gives due recognition to its ethical character and to the need for engineering virtues. This knowing-based view of engineering, focused on "engineering insight," provides the basis for a core, discipline-neutral approach to engineering.It proposes an engineering education centered on norms inherent to the knowing process, specifically attentiveness and intentionality. These norms in turn provide a source for defining and developing engineering virtues and character.

Russell Korte is an Associate Professor of Human and Organizational Learning at the George Washington University. Dr. Korte studies the socio-cultural systems in organizations and their effects on learning and performance in school and the workplace. This work focuses on the professional socialization of engineering students, faculty, practicing engineers, medical students,and teachers. Prior to GW, Korte was at Colorado State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he helped redesign the first-year engineering program as a Fellow with the Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education and was a member of the Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education―a faculty development program at the University of Illinois. Earlier, he was a research assistant for the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education at the University of Washington. Korte received his Ph.D. in work and human resource education from the University of Minnesota. Past workexperiences include several years in business and consulting. Additional research interests include theory, philosophy, social science, workplace learning and performance, socialization, professional education, and organization studies. Mani Mina received B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Iowa State University, Ames, in 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1989, respectively. He is an Associate Professor at the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Industrial Design at Iowa State University. He worked in industrial areas of instrumentation, system integration, and design in nondestructive evaluation and handheld systems. He is also engaged in research in Engineering Education. From the position of a reflective practitioner, he is working on ways of creating new approaches to bring cycles of empathy in engineering education. His work in engineering education and technological literacy has always been informed with a philosophical basis. He is influenced by the philosophical approach of John Dewey. He has received awards and recognitions from ASEE TELPhE (Technological and Engineering Literacy and philosophy of Engineering) and ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) divisions for his continuations to the fields and educational innovations. Deacon Stephen T. Frezza, Ph.D., P.S.E.M is a Professor of Software Engineering and Chair of the Computer and Information Science Department at Franciscan University at Steubenville. He earned his Ph.D., M.S., and a B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. As a Professional Software Engineering Master (PSEM), he remains actively involved in developing practical industry-university projects and partnerships. He teaches a variety of software engineering topics, primarily in the area of requirements engineering, project management, software testing, and embedded systems. He is also actively engaged in global software engineering efforts. His research interests are in the areas of philosophy of engineering, affective-domain assessment, competency modeling and assessment, software engineering education, and the relationship between engineering and theology. Dr. Frezza is a senior member of the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS), a professional member and division officer for the Technology and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering (TELPhE) division of the American Society for Engineering Education. David A. Nordquest, Ph.D. is a member of the Philosophy Department of Gannon University. He received an M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University, where he specialized in Political Philosophy. His research has centered around the philosophy of consciousness and practical epistemology. He has published research viewing constitutionalism from a cognitional perspective and exploring Lonergan’s attempt to found a critical human science. Most recently, he taught a senior honors seminar on the philosophy of consciousness in Polanyi, Voegelin, and Lonergan. He participated for several years in seminars offered by the Lonergan Institute in Washington, DC and regularly teaches philosophy of knowledge courses from a Lonerganian perspective.