Emily
Why aren't more engineering courses taught in a hands-on setting?
At my college, 90% of #engineering classes are based on #theory. A common belief is that you will only end up using a tiny portion of all that knowledge once you reach the workplace, and instead employees end up learning most their skills on the job. This makes the burden of college seem useless, aside from providing students with a piece of paper that proves they attended.
#teaching #education #curriculum
4 answers
Carolyn Liu
Carolyn’s Answer
Great question. From the practical aspect, a technical university (literally called that, as they are usually STEM-focused with concentrations on engineering) has many more hands-on classes because many courses require a "lab".
A general university with an engineering department that is the same size as all other departments tends to be more theoretical due to physical space, costs, and faculty.
In the former, you're likely to have teaching faculty who has done more research in the technical aspect. In the latter, teaching faculty may not have time to teach you hands on things due to the nature of their research, whether it be they are very busy OR there tends to be less hands-on labs anyway.
An engineering school is more likely to give you hands-on experience AND encourage you to do co-ops, where you will learn many things on the site and get paid. A more general university at best will aid you in research, but not help you as much with co-ops or internships.
College is honestly just a good place to network and find out what topics you like and don't like, without the commitment. The drawback to having so many hands-on experiences is that you can't turn back, while going to school for "theoretical" topics may actually be good to let you dabble in many different areas, even though you haven't acquired technical skills.
And most entry-level jobs don't expect you to be an expert and have a lot of experience, in which case your personal portfolio or project history is very important.
G. Mark Stewart
G. Mark’s Answer
In many cases, hands-on activities are rather time-consuming, and to cover other course material, the books are focused on. However, be aware that there are some courses that are specifically focused on projects. If your school doesn't seem to have any currently available, look for clubs on campus. There are also local groups that work on big projects to whom all the members contribute. Then contact your local counselor. See if there are internships or Co-Op opportunities. These will have the combined benefits of being entertaining, educational, making contacts and getting a possible leg-up in a company that has you as a Co-Op or Intern. Finally, it will give you a true feeling for what your chosen career entails and whether and what part of it suits you. And you generally get paid for those latter positions, which is pretty cool.
Nisha Prudhomme
Nisha’s Answer
Hi Emily,
It depends on the type of college/university as well as your field. For example, I am a Network Engineer as my 2nd career and I attended a community college to learn my trade. Although all I learned was business theory when I went to 4 year college, the community college focused on providing more hands on learning and preparing us for the workforce rather quickly. It depends on the career field and it depends on the college.
Timothy Culver
Timothy’s Answer
It really depends on the college/university. I have been a part-time lecturer at the University of Texas at Dallas in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science for 9 years. I teach a couple of classes a semester at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Our dean specifically requests us to be more hands on in the classroom. I would say that you get a good balance at our university. Some schools that have smaller computer science/engineering departments may be more theory. The Erik Jonsson school has 3,500 computer science majors (BS, MS, Ph.D.) and there are even more engineering majors. You can tell by the facilities, labs and other resources on campus that there will be a lot of hands on experience. In my classes, the students have lots of hands on with technology because my goal is to make sure that they are productive day one at an employer.
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