Aiming to educate innovative engineers

AIMING TO EDUCATE INNOVATIVE ENGINEERS The way how work is done undergoes big changes in the future. It will not be enough to just merely follow the pre-set goals and use methods defined in advance. Instead an increasing amount of work will include tasks where the goal might have been defined but the methods and ways to reach the goal and the way the work is done are not carved in stone. Even more challenging work tasks include situations where both the goal and methods of work are open; the desired end result is clarified or determined as the work is being done. It is anticipated that the amount of people engaging in this type of “not-by-the-book” work is increasing. To succeed in work it will be necessary to develop one’s individual competences. It is important to realize that one’s competence is actually built in relation to others and it is used as part of a whole. Fewer and fewer jobs can be done in isolation. This change means that modern world faces issues and challenges, which are becoming more and more difficult to address within the framework of a single method, be that a discipline or a profession. A boundary crossing approach for instance in problem solving, service or product creation, research or organizational team work enhances creativity, and new previously unthinkable innovations are more likely to occur. The Turku University of Applied Sciences has developed a concept called innovation pedagogy which aims to give our students possibilities to educate themselves to be the innovative citizens of tomorrows learning organizations. The social aspects of working and learning are emphasized and group processes where learning happens in multidisciplinary teams form an essential part of the whole process of learning. The ultimate aim of innovation pedagogy is to reach the final learning outcomes which are related to the competencies possessed by the students when entering working life once having completed their degrees. The aim of the whole educational process is to equip students with the core competencies of their own subject matter and in addition to that also prepare them to become active contributors in the different innovation processes they are facing in working life. To reach this goal it becomes essential to define the desired goals: knowledge, skills and attitudes, which refer to the learning outcomes related with the capability of being able to act innovatively. These learning outcomes are called innovation competencies. This paper will present how the concept of innovation pedagogy contributes to the development of future engineers capable of engaging themselves in the requirements of “not-by-the-book-work” when innovations are needed. We also present innovation competencies which we have defined to include individual, interpersonal and networking aspects of the competencies. Finally we explain what kind of an impact these competencies have in curricula development.

Proceedings of the 10th International CDIO Conference, Barcelona, Spain, June 15-19 2014