Engineers Learn “Soft Skills the Hard Way”: Planting a Seed of Leadership in Engineering Classes

Abstract

Today’s competitive global market and changing work environment demand that engineers possess “soft skills” in addition to technical skills, and they must be able to understand project goals and have the ability to accomplish them with available resources. Currently, engineers learn leadership and management skills while working—learning “soft skills the hard way.” In order to meet the demands of this changing world, engineering programs are challenged to come up with innovative ways to teach classes so that graduates are prepared to take on the challenges twenty-first century engineers face. This article provides a summary of engineering leadership and its relationship to engineering education, problem-based learning, and service-learning pedagogies as they relate to engineering education, and an example of implementing these pedagogies in an engineering course.