The Holistic Curriculum

Abstract

As with any well-founded engineering program, the goal of the holistic curriculum is to prepare students to embark on a career in which their success is conditional on life-long learning, critical thinking and decision making, teamwork, leadership, and commitment. Rather than assuming that these qualities will be instilled in our students as they travel through a well-crafted sequence of challenging engineering courses, the faculty explicitly demands that these objectives be met by collaborating on courses, through coordinated design projects among as many as eight different courses and six different professors, and by continual assessment and improvement. Students are encouraged and required to teach other students concepts that they have mastered. While we are constantly changing, this culture existed in our department before any of the present faculty arrived, and we believe that it can be created in other departments.

Outcomes Assessment in Engineering Education

“…The results of the questionnaires returned by graduates and their employers tend to emphasize the same points. Students and employers are very positive about the communication skills and teamwork skills learned in our curriculum, 18 consistent with the program goals. The results of the questionnaires completed by students in or just finishing our program yield different information.…”

“…They have been described in more detail elsewhere. 18,19 The Majors date back to the PRIDE program, 20 became a part of our curriculum before the national assessment movement began, and predate the arrival of all of the present faculty. Now, as part of the formal assessment plan, the faculty teaching design provide a summary report after each Major summarizing specific student strengths and weaknesses.…”

What’s in a Name? “Holistic,” Integrative,” and “Integrated” Engineering Education Through the Lens of Fink’s Taxonomy

“…More importantly, this approach intends to develop the student as a whole person, addressing the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual dimensions of being [32,34] and promoting specific character qualities, affective dispositions and habits of the mind [10,16]. On the other side of the spectrum, authors have used the term holistic more narrowly, intending to support the idea of connecting the course components throughout the curriculum [7], and to present "cross-disciplinary" (in-engineering) problems over the program [35]. Table 1 below was constructed to visualize better what other dimensions of Fink's Taxonomy, besides "Knowledge Foundation" and "Application," are incorporated by definitions of "Holistic" in engineering education.…”

“…This compartmentalization of knowledge is what some educators, departments and even entire universities are trying to avoid by incorporating "holistic," "integrative" and "integrated" frameworks in undergraduate engineering education. These comprehensive frameworks support the formation of "well rounded" graduates who are trained to be the future leaders and creative thinkers [34], and able to appreciate "the big picture" [35]. These advocates intend to foster the understanding, not only theoretically but also practically, of how concepts taught in distinct courses and disciplines are intertwined [8].…”

Compassion Practicum: A Capstone Design Experience at the United States Military Academy

“…Engineering education is undergoing considerable introspection regarding appropriate goals and effective strategies for achieving identified goals. Several recent studies [1][2][3] have contributed to the growing consensus that describes engineering as primarily an integrative process. Such studies have proposed a shift from dedication to course content to a more integrated or holistic approach in which the separate subjects such as mathematics, pure and applied sciences and design are more fully integrated.…”