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This is the Stadium Academicum
home of the Iron Professor Tournament organized by the enigmatic Chairman.
It brings together uncompromising faculty to put forth their scholarship & pedagogical technique in a battle for academic supremacy...
...and maybe even TENURE.
Announcer: The Chairman has read that global society demands more…delicious…engineers. We need more engineers [1],
more diverse engineers [1, 2], more global [3], ethical [4], innovative [5, 6], and team-based engineers [6].
Today’s Challenger will be asked to address these needs through his instruction - meet Dr. Kawasaki, a new Assistant Professor!
Dr. Kawasaki’s scholarly prowess led him to a technical PhD program, but he also found a love for teaching and resolved to improve his skills.
Beginning discipline-specific educational research with like-minded mustachioed instructors and scholars,
he developed a strong interest in the techniques and philosophies of engineering education while also
plunging his hands deep into the dirty work of instruction.
Dr. Kawasaki: For me, I love to teach. However, lecture just doesn’t work. I enjoy learning about and exploring new techniques for instruction.
Announcer: The Chairman has selected the up- and-coming Assistant Professor Kawasaki to challenge the legendary Iron Professor Sakai.
Professor Kawasaki has come to the Chairman’s interest for his new teaching style, eschewing chalk-and-talk lectures.
It's going to take more than good student reviews to win here, lets see what he can do!
The Chairman: Thank you for coming.
Please show us your educational techniques in this battle against the Iron Professor.
Here, and around the world, it is known that we must update how we train engineers.
Kawasaki : Yes, I will do my best.
The Chairman: Your new methods have provoked resistance and praise from students and faculty alike.
Let’s see what you can do.
MEET THE IRON PROF!!!
Announcer: It’s Iron Prof. Sakai! Nobody knows why he carries that pear but legend has it that if you ask
you’ll end up teaching 8AM classes in the furthest building from parking!
He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications!
His grant money is limitless!
Chief editor of six major journals!
He wrote your graduate school textbooks!
Iron Prof. Sakai is truly a formidable opponent!
The Chairman: Please allow me to introduce THE STUDENTS!
Now, make them ENGINEERS!
Announcer: Both professors are poised to begin the battle.
The first question is, who will they choose for their students? Different styles are expected right out of the gate!
The Chairman: GO TEACH!
Announcer: Some people will tell you that to engineer is human [7], and that engineering abilities lie within all students.
I heard Dr. Kawasaki say Koen is one of his favorite authors, so I would expect him to fall in this camp. Dr. Sakai is usually harder to please.
So, Commentator Hattori...
Commentator: Yes?
Announcer: Prof. Sakai is only taking students with extensive preparation in science and mathematics from high school, don't you think?
Commentator: Yes.
Announcer: and look at how his derivation of the Timoshenko beam equation on the first day of class
has still separated his new student’s heads from their bodies!
Commentator: Yes, that is always a risk with deductive learning.
Commentator: Yes, that is always a risk with deductive teaching styles.
Announcer: Yes, yes.
Commentator: So, what is the challenger up to over here? This doesn't look usual at all...
I think the challenger may be starting off his classes with a diversity exercise of some sort.
It seems he is helping his students see the similarities under their different ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic "skins"...
I guess that is technically in the ABET requirements [8] but can sometimes be underemphasized.
This is going to cost him valuable time for teaching course content though...
Announcer: Yeah, seems likely.
Commentators: Wow, look at all those teaching assistants the Iron Prof has.
He's doing to have to spend some effort training them if they're going to be any good though.
He's had plenty of experience ordering TA's around though, I'm sure he'll be fine.
Yeah, but what about the students?
Hmmmm...
Oh look, the challenger is using ideas of how the Social environment can affect the Brain [9].
And what's this over here...I think it is some sort of learning community, where all the students can learn from each other [10].
Looks like it is bubbling with shared learning. A veritable soup of knowledge transfer.
Let's see what the Iron Prof. is up to now.
Little bit hard to tell, but I think he is cutting his course curriculum into discrete topics.
That might make it easier to handle each chunk, but the whole thing will definitely not hold together as well.
Well, you know, Dr. Sakai told me that faculty just don't have the time to set up an integrated curriculum, so maybe this is the best we can do.
Time and money are always critical, but it seems like many people agree that an integrated curriculum would work better...[11]
Oh, bad news for both professors. Apparently, some students took required courses outside the department from bored adjuncts.
Just look at them - they'll be signing the forms to transfer to business school any minute now.
That's really a shame, because while most students do stay, almost nobody transfers into engineering school [12]. That's a problem.
It seems the Challenger's students are feeling a bit constricted.
He's been making them work in groups and assigning team grades. That is never popular in the beginning,
but research shows they grow to appreciate it over time, and that students learn and retain more through cooperative learning [13].
Oooh, the Iron Prof's Classroom is looking pretty chilled out during this lecture. I see a lot of Facebook in the back rows.
Yes, limited student engagement here. Some students say they come to find out the test dates and learn the material from the assignments.
Is this really the best use of the class time?
Wow, compare that to the Challenger's classroom!
He's given them authentic engineering projects to pursue [14], and just look at them go!
Looks like he's trying to write a grant proposal while they work, always important to multitask.
Let's get a replay - this is an advanced technique that takes a lot of preparation to do safely, but apparently he found the time.
Yeah, probably why he's behind on that proposal.
We're now entering the final stretch, and so we'd expect to see students of both professors beginning a capstone design project.
I think this team of the Challenger's is working together on a tricky heat transfer problem.
You know, Capstone Design courses are common now, but they're also an example of a big curricular change being implemented.
And this is the final countdown to graduation, looks like there are a few last minute things do to...and the battle is OVER!
And now on to the interviews.
Interviewer: So, how do you think it went?
Dr. Kawasaki: Honestly, I've been too busy to think about it.
I love teaching and I think I bring real value to the students, but right now it doesn't count for much.
One of these days they'll pin a teaching award on me and then I'm guaranteed not to get tenure. It's the kiss of death.
Interviewer: So, Professor, how are you feeling?
Dr. Sakai: Busy.
Interviewer: Always busy, eh? Well, how do you feel about the challenger's techniques now that you've seen them in battle?
Dr. Sakai: Well, he sure doesn't do it the way everybody else does. I've had thirty years of experience and I'm not sure that he can
match the benefits of that by teaching things backwards while they're standing on their heads.
We'll see what the judges think.
Announcer: Now the time has come for the Challenger's work to be judged.
Representatives from Industry, Global Society, and Government will examine his graduates for the abilities and knowledge they require.
Everything is prepared, so we shall now begin.
Industry: That teamwork and communication really hits the spot.
Global Society: I really appreciate that these engineers consider sustainability.
Government: Very dynamic and innovative.
And now it is time to judge the work of the Iron Professor.
Global Society: These engineers are a little bit...chicken...when working with other cultures.
Industry: Well, this is pretty much what we've been getting for a while now, and that's OK.
Sometimes they take a couple of years to get a grip on the real world, but they're good at math.
I feel like we need something more, though [14, 15].
Government: These are clearly among the best in the world, but since they cost more than graduates from nearly any other place,
the should be. I'm not sure that we're getting all the value from higher education that we should.
I guess they're sufficiently innovative, for now.
Announcer: The judges get down to business, making their decision. Who will triumph?
The Chairman: This is it.
Announcer: The stakeholders have been consulted, the ballots have been cast.
Both professors have labored long and hard to train those they accepted as students and to mould them as engineers.
Their values and methods differ greatly. Experience vies with new research, tradition with innovation.
Whose vision and value system for engineering education will be vindicated?
Whose pedagogy will reign SUPREME?