In light of the present development, the unilateral move by ABET, without advice or consent of its members, to dilute engineering education criteria, I will not look to ABET to provide structure for any kind of educational scheme.

I have always wondered why this course is so popular. Thank you for making it easy for me to find out more about it (and enticing me to read your blog with your great title). It looks like Boyer is completely open about what he want you to learn (knowledge and skills and attitudes) and as well as how you can go about accomplishing this. AND he creates multiple paths to success. Personalized learning, engagement, honesty–it looks amazing!

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Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’ve had both good and bad experiences with online courses– I really think it depends on what the course content is. For instance, I took an art history course online during my undergraduate years, and it was actually really engaging and I learned a lot. There were definitely a lot of readings, but I was actually more inclined to read and focus in the comfort of my home. However, I also took an online math course (unfortunately it was the only way to take this particular math course), and I found it impossible to learn the information from a video lecture, primarily because I had so many questions and the content was rushed.

So all in all, I think online courses can be a good thing if they are done correctly– as you said, they are often more work, but if the content is learn-able from afar, it can be a positive experience

Thanks for sharing your project! I’m the same as you– if there is a project, even one with an element of competition– I always feel like I’m learning more than in a traditional lecture-based course. There’s pros and cons to both, but when you work on a project like this you learn more than just facts. You learn how to think critically, communicate with others, problem-solve, and more.

This post is really easy to relate to. I had a similar experience in my undergrad, and it was often the required “Gen Ed” classes that were exactly as you described– full of trivial facts that don’t look at the big picture. Often a professor is tasked with teaching something they might not love themselves, or even know much about. However, in situations like these, if a professor were to step back and show the class the whole picture of what they are teaching, it is relatable to more students. Explaining WHY something is important to learn is just as important as learning it in the first place.

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Cool video! Like the above comment says, it is important to incorporate multiple teaching methods in a course to create a hybrid learning course. Lectures work for some; lectures don’t work for others. But I can relate to what you said about learning the most when you struggle with the information itself, and there is absolutely value in learning from someone who has real world experience vs talking only theoretically about something.

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I agree, Monica. It will be interesting to see what happens with ABET over time. From what we read and heard about in class, ABET seems more prescriptive and opaque than CAEP (the accrediting body for the School of Education). I was astounded to hear of the blatant lack of communication between ABET and its members.