A Methodology for Determining Engineering Curriculum Contents

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

AbstractAs the life span of engineering subjects decreases the importance of valid determination of engineering curriculum contents increases. A methodology for determining and updating contents of an engineering curriculum has been developed and implemented by a curriculum design research team from the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology. According to this methodology, the decision‐making process of the Curriculum Committee members is based on data collected systematically from relevant work sites, relating to cognitive, affective and instrumental skills and knowledge items, required at present and for the foreseen future, from graduates of the educational program. The theoretical foundations of the approach are rooted in the Facet Theory which provides a framework for defining a universe of observations and arrive at an empirical structure for reality based decision making processes. The establishment of a definitional system, by means of a mapping sentence, is devised and a corresponding questionnaire for systematic determination of occupational field demands required from engineering graduates, is designed. The sampling issue of the questionnaire‐run is discussed and illustrated through experimental data, representing reality‐based situations. The purpose is to arrive eventually, through verified data analysis methods, at a hierarchy of skills and knowledge items, to distinctive occupational field demands, to a professional content portrayal and to a structure of professional field requirements.