Incorporating Leadership Training In A Sophomore Engineering Design Course

A novel course module to develop the interpersonal skills of engineering students is integrated into a sophomore design course. The module, entitled Professional Development I, provides students with background and training in communication, creativity, team dynamics, conflict resolution, leadership, values, risk taking, and personality types. The focus is on experiential teaching of practical applications and teaching methods are highly interactive. Professional Development I is part of Introduction to Engineering Design with students receiving 25% of their total course grade from the Professional Development portion and 75% from the engineering design portion. Within Introduction to Engineering Design, students are placed in teams and assigned a semester-long design/build/test project. A unique feature of the course is that the same teams who work together on their design project also receive leadership training P ge 887.1 together. This allows instructors in interpersonal skills to tie concepts to the immediate experiences of the design team. There is close communication between engineering professors and leadership training instructors, who jointly teach the course. Introduction to Engineering Design is a requirement for all engineering students at Rensselaer. Introduction Practicing engineers need excellent leadership, communication, and teamwork skills to succeed in today’s demanding business environment. At Rensselaer, engineering students improve their skills in these areas via a three-course Professional Development sequence. The first course of the sequence is normally taken in the sophomore year and is integrated with an engineering design course. The second course is aimed at junior level students and the final course is intended for seniors. Throughout the sequence, students learn through lectures, experiential exercises, readings, group discussions, and talks with invited guests. Topics include verbal and non-verbal communication, team dynamics, conflict resolution, leadership, values, vision, goal setting, and many others. The focus of this paper is the first course in the sequence, Professional Development I (PDI), which has been a requirement for all engineering students since 1998. PDI is part of the sophomore engineering course Introduction to Engineering Design (IED). The PDI segment of the course accounts for nominally 1 out of 4 credits and contributes 25% to the course grade. The instructors for PDI are from the Archer Center for Student Leadership Development in the Division of Student Life at Rensselaer. The other 75% of the course focuses on engineering design, and is taught by