Emotional Rescue of Engineering Education - EWB2014

The Emotional Rescue of
Engineering Education
Dave Goldberg
Big Beacon
deg@bigbeacon.org

© David E. Goldberg 2014

Stories


Surprising
journey


Culture
sculp+ng

Anything But Engineers


www.bigbeacon.org

Reﬂection


Prompt: Engineering education today is not…


Debrief


Would like to suggest three things:


1. We are reforming the wrong stuﬀ.


2. Using assumptions appropriate for bygone times,


3. Using change methods too weak to succeed.


1.  We are reforming the wrong stuﬀ,
2.  Using assumptions appropriate for bygone times,
3.  Using change methods too weak to succeed.


Assumption: Need to be more rational & quantitative
for education reform to succeed.


Subtext: Pedagogical & educational eﬀorts need to
compete with research for time, funding, and prestige.


What’s the right stuﬀ?


Story: The Power of Initiative


Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education
www.ifoundry.illinois.edu


Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering


The “Olin Eﬀect”


Illinois
Engineering

Freshman
Experience

(iEFX)

iLaunch

iCommunity

ENG100++
2

Hands-‐on

Projects

iExpo

ENG100++

Missing

Basics

iCheckpoint

1-hour course + zero-credit iCommunity


Great launch then…


bumps, confusion & complaining


“Weren’t sure you
were serious about us
doing what we wanted
to do, but then realized
you were, and it was
very cool.”


Then, students started to take initiative
without permission.


“Sure I made the right career choice.”


“Making me more conﬁdent in my decision to be an engineer.”


“I’m deﬁnitely more entrepreneurial.”


“Just an overall all-rounded engineer, not just a
technician. A human, not just a problem solver.”


The Olin eﬀect
at Illinois!


But how?


How did such a small eﬀort have
such a big eﬀect on initiative?


Story: Aching to Lead in Singapore


Singaporean Students Don’t Do X


How do you learn the courage to be present as a leader?


How do we learn courage?


Story: Universities date back to 11th century.


Founded1088


9-10 century consensus


University as an assembly of experts


Expertise is being challenged in 2 ways


Challenge #1: EdTech


MOOCs

Massive open online courses


Challenge #2: KidEnterprise


Story: Are universities necessary for research?


Friday, 30 January 2013


Post WW2 professor was


©
David
E.
Goldberg
and
Mark
Somerville
2013

Please
do
not
reproduce
or
distribute
without
permission.

From @jackandraka!
@deg511 Working on changing education, too!‪!
<link> !


Pancreatic
cancer
hRp://kalatas.com.au/wp-‐content/uploads/2013/03/Screen-‐Shot-‐2013-‐03-‐02-‐at-‐12.22.39-‐
AM-‐275x300.png


Mid

th
20


Century

168 times faster
26,000 times less expensive,
400 times more sensitive,
5 minutes to run


What did he need from the professor?


Lab space


Any 14-year old with
laptop an read papers
experts read. Can get
funding experts get.
Can hire help from
guru.com.


Jack is not alone.


Returns to research expertise are diminishing.


The current revolution isn’t about teaching.


Idea of university is being challenged.


What is an expert?


“I know.”

What is a university?


“No, I k

now.”
“No, I know.”

“No, I know.”

“I know.”

“No, I know.”

“No, I know.”

”No, I know.”
“No, I know.”
“No, I know.”

“No, I know.”

“No

ow.”
, I kn

How do we balance the portfolio?


????
“I know”

What is the opposite of expertise?


Story: A diﬃculty of “knowing.”


Rewind to September 2010


Georgetown University Leadership
Coaching Certiﬁcate Program


Stuck


Love


Breakthrough


Learned how hard it is to really trust another person.


You learn courage from those who
1.  Have courage to check their egos,
2.  Trust you before you trust yourself,
3.  Are open to your exploration & learning.


Unleashing reaction


Unleashing = Trust + Courage + Initiative -> Learning to learn


Hard lessons
for an
engineer &
professor.


All key change
variables of
transformation
are emotional.


“I trust”
“I know”

Unleash


“We control”


“We tru

st.”

“We trust.”

“We trust”

“We trust”

“We trust.”

“We trust.”

“We trust.”
“We Trust.”
“We trust.”

“We trust.”

“W

ust.”
e tr

At level of individuals, variables are emotional.


At systems/organization level variables are cultural.


Need to move from fear & control to love & trust.


Trying to use existing bureaucracies
to reform themselves.


It hasn’t worked.


It won’t work.


When in human history have we made big moves?


The Salt Movement of 1930


The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955


hRp://www.montgomeryboycoR.com/photos/rParksArrest.jpg


It takes a social movement to bring transformation.


The Big Beacon Movement of 2012


Problems: Changes huge & have system
that delights in failure of candidates.


Global
movement


5 Pillars
to transform
higher
education

by
collaboratively
disrupting the
status quo.


Coming 2014


5 Technologies of Trust
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Wholemindedness
Values-based design
Coaching
Culture crafting & sculpting
Changing the way we change

Wholemindedness: 6 Minds of WNE
Analy+cal

mind

Mind

mind

Design

mind

Six
Minds

of
the

Whole
New

Engineer

Linguis+c

mind

People

mind

Body

mind

Values-Based Design: 5 Pillars of the Big Beacon
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Joy
Trust
Courage
Connection
Openness

Modern leadership
coaching traces its
origins to Chilean
engineer, Fernando
Flores, & his PhD
thesis: Management
and Communication
in the Oﬃce of the
Future, 1982


Changing how we
change: Cannot
assume that simple
orders in a hierarchy
will do the trick


Good exemplars growing: Diﬀerent objects of
change, assumptions, & process of change essential


1-3 Takeaways


Email: deg@bigbeacon.org
Web: www.bigbeacon.org
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/deg511
Twitter: @deg511, @bigbeacon


Join Sunday breakfast for interactive session
to collaboratively disrupt the status quo.


The Emotional Rescue of
Engineering Education
Dave Goldberg
ThreeJoy Associates, Inc.
deg@bigbeacon.org


Emotional Rescue of Engineering Education - EWB2014

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