The Challenge Of Preaching To No Choir: How Mindset Can Make Or Break A Course

Students taking a course required for their major know that the materials the course covers fall almost entirely within their chosen area of interest.Generally, instructors like to teach such courses because their audience shares almost the same mindset.This gives a feeling that everyone in the classroom is on the "same wavelength" because all speak the "same language".Elective, interdisciplinary courses, on the other hand, are different.The interests and expectations of those taking an interdisciplinary course can make or break that course.Students select their courses with certain expectations.Before settling on a course, students weigh factors such as the subject, rigor, instructor, and ability to do well.Developing a new interdisciplinary course can be tricky especially if the course is geared toward engineering and liberal arts students and includes both engineering and non-engineering materials.Students taking such courses are usually diverse from many backgrounds and share little in terms of mindset.Granted, this could be an environment where wide range of ideas are exchanged and where debate flourishes, but it can also be a climate where some feels disconnected and isolated.A new interdisciplinary course that combines engineering arts and the liberal arts has been developed and offered.The course materials were designed to appeal to both engineering and non-engineering students.The class was equally split between these two groups of students.The course required high technical skill and ability to operate advanced software, which some did not possess.The course explored the tightly knit relationship between the art of constructing some of the most sophisticated projects and other non-engineering requirements such as political, economical, historical, cultural, and public perception factors.The course offers an insight into the role engineers play to find a common ground that satisfies all needs and meet mandated regulations.