Engineering in Action

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference Paper published in Proceedingspeer-review

Abstract

Engineering education is invariably highly technical and leaves little time for experience of the vagaries of real life. While industrial experience is now an established part of most professional degrees, this experience is usually limited to large business applications that are selected in areas of the student’s knowledge. As a result, professional courses are producing engineers that lack the experience to carry out project work, to communicate effectively with the user in a way that produces sustainable products. Can we claim to have produced professionals? This paper looks at two aspects of teaching sustainability and cross-cultural skills to professionals: firstly, the need for students to understand how technology is related to its cultural and environmental context, how it must be designed within this context and existing technologies may not be transferable from that context and, secondly, the need for students to see their role as educating the public as well as themselves. By using examples from projects in remote communities in Australia and the Pacific, this paper shows that much of the learning students will otherwise gain throughout their lifetime can be encapsulated in small projects during their undergraduate years. Software tools can be developed to present this wealth of information to learners at all levels.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationICT Analysis and Applications
Subtitle of host publicationProceedings of ICT4SD 2020
EditorsSimon Fong, Nilanjan Dey, Amit Joshi
Place of PublicationSingapore
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages193-202
Number of pages10
Volume2
ISBN (Electronic)978-981-15-8354-4
ISBN (Print)978-981-15-8353-7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Event5th International Conference on ICT for Sustainable Development, ICT4SD 2020 - Panaji, India
Duration: 23 Jul 202024 Jul 2020

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Networks and Systems
Volume154
ISSN (Print)2367-3370
ISSN (Electronic)2367-3389

Conference

Conference5th International Conference on ICT for Sustainable Development, ICT4SD 2020
Country/TerritoryIndia
CityPanaji
Period23/07/2024/07/20

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