Are Engineering Students a Barrier to Their Own Professional Development? (original) (raw)

Abstract

For over 20 years it has been recognised that a gap has existed between the professional skills possessed by engineering graduates and the expectations of industry. This gap has gradually been accepted by many academics with new and innovative programs constantly being implemented, but even so, research indicates that this gap still exists and is still significant. So what is going wrong? Are educators not using the correct approaches? Do students need more resources? Are the assessments misaligned? This paper investigates one possible barrier to the development of professional skills; the self-efficacy of students. A study of 50 Masters of Engineering students explores the links between how the students perceive their verbal communication skills, how teaching staff have evaluated these skills and how the students have made use of available resources. The data is derived from presentation assessments, self-reflections and a survey completed by the participants. The paper concludes w...

Ryan Naylor hasn't uploaded this paper.

Let Ryan know you want this paper to be uploaded.

Ask for this paper to be uploaded.