Inspiring Students — The Key To Learning For The Future

This paper considers the implications of preparing engineering students to enter, live, and be successful in a “Flat World.” Clearly the exact needs of the future are not known for certain, but we do know that civil engineers of the future will need to be flexible, adaptive, life long learners. All academic institutions and all disciplines aim at preparing students for the future, at our institution the mission statement begins with “To educate, train, and inspire ....” While the entire mission is specifically geared toward the unique role of our institution and encompasses many areas beyond a traditional undergraduate education, it holds what the authors think is the key to preparing students for the uncertainty and challenges of the future and their current learning—to educate, train and inspire. The authors feel that educating and training alone are not enough; it is only with the addition of inspiration that we will create life long learners and ensure their education adequately prepares them for a dynamic and uncertain future. In considering the changing and increasingly flat world, the role of the traditional educational process, teaching concepts, theories, methodologies, etc. cannot be minimized. In fact, the role of this type of education is increasingly important to their success. In the future, students will certainly need fundamental skills as assuredly as they need them today. However, much more will be required of them than what we teach them today; we must prepare them to not only learn pertinent skills for today but more importantly create in them a yearning for and an ability to become life long learners. The authors propose that the ability to become a life long learner is best achieved through inspiration, which should be a critical part of their undergraduate educational process. This paper considers various educational theories dealing with motivation for learning, recommendations from ABET and The Engineer of 2020 and highlights their calls for what we term “inspiring students.” The paper then analyzes various effects and parts of a civil engineering program to include guest speakers, case studies, field trips, summer enrichment opportunities, ASCE Student Chapter events, and service learning projects that can be used to do more than merely educate and train students, but also to inspire them.