Engineering Education in 2050/Engineering as Applied Creativity

Engineering 2050: Embracing Applied Creativity in Education

Applied Creativity: The Centerpiece of Engineering Education in 2050

Engineering education in 2050 is positioned for a dramatic shift. Once characterized by applied science, engineering education will be characterized by applied creativity. The significance of applied creativity is not novel, it has always been important for innovation and problem-solving: "In order to successfully solve problems, engineers must be creative. An innovative mindset is essential for them to design new products and services or improve upon those that have already been created. Engineers need to constantly innovate in order to continue to drive economic and societal successes." In 2050, technological advancement will have made applied creativity more accessible to students through the rise of project-based classes, university-sponsored-engineering project teams, interdisciplinary projects, and engineering ethics. Engineering students, departments, companies, technology users, and innovation itself all stand to benefit from this change.

Project-Based Learning: Fostering Practical Ingenuity

The most effective method for practicing applied creativity is project based learning. In 2050, K-12 and higher education will shift their focus to hands-on, project based curricula that encourages students to engage with the material using real-world challenges.

Project-based learning is incorporated in higher education curriculum rather than in K-12 education. In the future, K-12 will adopt national standards that allow students to engage with project-based learning. Before this new system, most students did not get experience outside of traditional lectures, textbooks, and exams until latter years if they decided to complete higher education. In 2050, students will receive exploratory options to branch out and gain experience in their fields of choice. Exposure to these fields will take the form of elective classes that focus on real-world projects designed by experts in that field. Students will feel a large sense of ownership over their education. During K-12, students will begin applying for internships, which becomes viable earlier in their education. Early adopters can be seen across the country using specialized education schools, colloquially referred to as “magnet schools” or "Governor's schools." Students take both general-education and specialized pathway-oriented classes. The vision for 2050 is based around all K-12 schools having the same opportunities that are offered at these "magnet" schools.

In the year 2050, higher education will shift to preparing students for their professional career. Currently, it is common that “core” knowledge and experience comes from an educational institution and real-world experience comes from external internships and jobs; however, by 2050, internships will be supplemental, as students will get sufficient experience in school. Early in higher education, engineering students will work closely with industry professionals to gain experience and familiarity with the field of their choice. Later, they will focus on projects and challenges that give them more autonomy by providing them with access to a small group of mentors. Students will work closely with peers both inside and outside of their fields. It will be a commonality for companies to consult engineering students when they need solutions. These students will work closely with their client to accomplish tasks, furthering enhancing their skills in applied creativity. The goal of higher education in 2050 will not only be providing the education necessary to become a successful professional, but also to make them professionals and experts by the time of their graduation.

Interdisciplinary Projects: Promoting Realistic Collaboration

Leading up to 2050, project learning will increasingly dominate higher education curriculum with the goal of producing competent engineers equipped with problem solving skills. Each engineering project will either apply to a current problem or one previously solved, so students can confidently face challenges in the workforce. Engineers do not exist in a vacuum, they must work with other professionals of different expertise to develop complex solutions. Whether students rely on experts from a different practice of engineering or cooperate with someone without an engineering background, they need interdisciplinary collaboration. Recognizing this need, colleges will introduce an engineering requirement to complete a project with a student(s) of different a major(s) to emulate working on a diverse team in the real world.

For example, structural engineers must ensure the safety of a building while adhering to the plans of an architect. A project pairing of this type would teach engineers the importance of creative expression in construction and the architect becomes more aware of their limitations considering structural integrity. Consequently, the team would be taught the skill of collaboration. With car efficiency standards becoming more strict to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, engineers must be more creative while prioritizing efficiency. Mechanical engineering students might pair with an environmental science student to create both working and environmentally friendly machinery. Rising concerns about data privacy along with fears about the power of AI, bring ethics and human responsibility to the forefront for software developers. Computer science students could pair up with an ethics major to ensure their product is both beneficial to technological advancement and society's well being.

By 2050, interdisciplinary projects will emerge as a foundational practice for engineering students to graduate. Through their collaboration, they will learn to arrive at solutions while adhering to relevant constraints all while flexing their communication skills. Creativity will be a focal point of engineering education so as to implement beneficial solutions for multifaceted problems. The whole of human ingenuity is greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Corporate Involvement in Engineering Education

Companies have been communicating with students earlier in their education. Completing an internship is a new corporate standard, so companies create more intern roles to stay competitive by assessing the talent earlier. Many companies are trending towards having one internship for rising seniors and a different program from rising juniors. To keep up with their peers, college students seek prestigious internships earlier in their education. Eventually, companies will no longer be able to recruit young students, given that most students don't know their desired career path until later in their education journey. The feasible mode of intimate recruitment would be integrating corporate work into college education.

There are currently numerous internship placement programs whether through UVA or other organizations like Forge. These systems that connect companies to students are already in place. Colleges will communicate through these systems to find companies that provide educational projects and are desirable for students to work with. Engineering classes that follow a class project throughout the semester will pair with a company; the company describes their problem and the students work to develop solutions. An example might be a software company describing a new tool they want built for a software development class. Another example might be a mechanical or aerospace engineering firm providing details on a part they want designed in CAD. Both parties benefit; the students get experience working on a real project that fits within the system of a larger problem and the companies can strengthen their recruiting. The company may then reach out to students who did well on the project for an internship offers.

K12 Opportunities for Engineering Education

"Engineering" as a word and as a discipline has generally been reserved for higher education. This may be because it takes a strong foundation of technical competencies to learn how the disciplines come together. However, this explanation lacks sense. Making a homemade replacement for a bike pedal is no harder or more technical than an AP high school Calculus class. Designing, building, and testing a bike pedal (no matter how informally) is indisputably engineering.

If the world needs more engineers, which appears to be the case, cultivating applied creativity in K12 education will be important. While math, physics, and the other sciences form the basis of the sort of logical quantitative thinking engineers need to be successful, good engineers obviously need to be capable of applied creativity. Applied creativity, like all skills, is something institutions are capable of cultivating in children with the right stimulus. The same kind of results-focused project based learning mentioned earlier is one of the best ways to stimulate applied creativity in K12 students, developments in education research will assist in that regard as well.

Integrating Ethical Engineering and Global Perspectives

Fighting existential threats (e.g. climate change) rather than each other, means that artifacts of engineering during an era of strategic technological development will disappear.  In their place will be the underlying and separate goals to accompany any technology innovation of humanitarianism and global wellbeing. While this has always been a priority, it will be so more explicitly.  To put a finer point on it, all prominent engineers during the Cold War needed to be cognizant of strategic interests like operational security, intellectual property, and intelligence. Those additional constraints or directions, in addition to technical innovation itself, have caused American and Soviet engineers to use applied creativity in every aspect of their work to ensure that both goals can be met and neither priority is corrupted. However, those are artifacts of an era of competition. Yet, applied creativity to manage technical development as well as meta goals is a staple of engineering. The difference is that the time between now and 2050 will be characterized by unified goals of fighting climate change, improving planetary defense, and others. Being able to understand and communicate the ethical and humanitarian implications of technical development will necessitate applied creativity in our next generation of engineers.

Conclusion: Nurturing Visionary Engineers

Applied creativity, fueled by project-based learning, interdisciplinary projects, ethical considerations, and global perspectives, redefines engineering education in 2050. It marks a change where engineers are not just technical wizards but visionary problem solvers, armed with the creativity, adaptability, and global awareness needed to engineer a sustainable future.

This evolution breaks conventional boundaries, crafting a generation of engineers ready to address challenges and innovate solutions that combine disciplines. It’s not just a reimagining of education; it’s a blueprint for engineering a world defined by innovation and ingenious solutions.