Student Perspectives of Curriculum Integrated International Service-Learning Internships

Abstract

The Engineers in Technical, Humanitarian Opportunities of Service-learning (ETHOS) program at the University of Dayton is founded on the belief that engineers are more apt and capable to serve our world more appropriately when they have experienced opportunities that increase their understanding of technology's global linkage with values, culture, society, politics and economy. ETHOS seeks to provide these opportunities by means of curriculum integrated servicelearning programming.These opportunities include international technical immersion volunteer internships, student organization activities, collaborative research and classroom projects which support appropriate technologies for the developing world, locally and globally. Over the course of three years, 27 students have participated in service-learning internships, working with development organizations and communities throughout Central and South America. Students live in the community which they volunteer and together, with the community, work to appropriately and creatively solve technical challenges. Such experiences expose students to alternative, nontraditional technologies that are based on fundamental science and engineering principles, thus allowing higher comprehension of curriculum material in a hands-on, practical and humanitarian manner. Furthermore, such exposure allows students to recognize the far-reaching effects, positive and negative, of engineering and technology and thus the responsibilities of being an engineer in our ever-increasing global society. Students are awarded credit via a multidisciplinary engineering elective, coordinated by the ETHOS program, for preparing for and participating in an international servicelearning internship. Preparation, prior to the six to sixteen week international technical immersion, includes a semester-long technical, cultural, language and travel instructional class. Student development and progress is monitored through technical reporting and reflection before, during and after travels. This paper examines in detail, one student's experience in his international service-learning internship and how this experience has affected his educational objectives.

A Model for Sustainable Humanitarian Engineering Projects

“…Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA), founded by the first author in 2001, has quickly grown to include more than 12,000 professional and student members spread over 250 chapters in the USA and working on close to 400 projects in 47 countries [4]. In addition to extra-curricular service organizations like EWB-USA, several domestic universities have worked, often independently, to integrate service learning, civic engagement, and outreach into their curricula [5][6][7][8]. This trend reflects a growing consensus among some engineering faculty, practicing engineers, and university administrators that the current system of engineering education is not adequate to create global citizen engineers who have the skills to address complex geopolitical and economic problems.…”

“…Initiatives explicitly focused on creating global citizen engineers through international humanitarian engineering projects are already changing the landscape of engineering education and practice. Organizations that have integrated these concepts into academic programs within the USA include the Village Empowerment Program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell [5], the ETHOS Program at the University of Dayton [6], the Humanitarian Engineering Program at the Colorado School of Mines [7], and the Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities (MC-EDC) at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder), described below. A review of some initiatives in the areas of accreditation, service learning and hands-on experience, awareness building, and curriculum development can be found in a recent paper by Amadei and Sandekian [10].…”

International Technical Service Immersions: Model For Developing Global Scientists And Engineers In Small To Mid Size Universities

“…Furthermore, international service-learning experiences have changed the participants' understanding of the philosophy of engineers in society and in the world. 5,8,11,16,[19][20][21] Many universities have realized the benefit of international service-learning in engineering. A variety of different approaches have been employed to facilitate these experiences.…”

Assessing Global Engagement Interventions to Advance Global Engineering Competence for Engineering Formation (Work in Progress)

“…The in-class work focuses on cultural immersion preparations and developing an understanding of community engaged design principles. This course content and the associated immersive experience have a significant impact on developing the global engineering competencies of students, as found through a formal assessment process [31], [32]. However, this course, like study abroad programs, is not accessible to a large number of engineering students because of travel costs and the duration of the international immersion experience and its impact on the tightly sequenced engineering curriculums and internship/co-op positions [14].…”