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Computer-mediated communication in engineering education

Engineering education has often been criticized for the inability to adequately meet or exceed the expectations of today's industry. The isolation between knowledge/skills taught in engineering classes and the real engineering world partially results from the theory-based unified curriculum and lecture-based traditional instructional methods in which knowledge and skills are not adequately situated in a real engineering world setting. In an effort to cover this discrepancy, the Engineering Leadership Development Minor (ELDM) in the College of Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University is innovating the curriculum and instructional methods of engineering education. Based upon a social cognition perspective of learning as a theoretical background on one hand, and upon the needs and expectations of industry on the other, the ELDM is attempting to integrate nontechnical, professional skills; such as communication and interpersonal skills, teamwork, and creative and intuitive thinking skills, with nontraditional instructional methods designed to facilitate social interaction and cooperation among students via computer-mediated communication (CMC) technology. This paper explores the potential of CMC as a facilitator of social interaction, engineering learning and instruction based upon social cognition perspective through the experience of implementing CMC in the ELDM. Why social interactions are so important in engineering education, how CMC facilitates engineering students' social interaction, and how to maximize the potential of CMC in engineering education are highlighted.