Professionalism skills: A framework for the academic environment

Abstract

Faculty members at many colleges and universities are "lamenting the rise in behavior problems in the classroom." 1 However the faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) program at the University of Maine (UMaine) has seen consistent improvement in student professionalism in the past decade since we have incorporated classroom activities, classroom management methods, and grading practices related to professionalism. Although we initiated these efforts to support a comfortable and productive classroom climate for both faculty members and students, and particularly for our few students from underrepresented groups, the benefits to students have been broader. We emphasize to students that practicing professionalism skills as undergraduates benefits them directly and immediately since employers of interns and entry level engineers strongly value these skills. The practices are introduced to first-semester students in MET 100, Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Technology, which I have taught since 2001. The skills they develop serve them well in all subsequent courses. The questions answered in this paper include, what "professionalism skills" do our employers need, how do we evaluate these skills and provide feedback for improvement, and how do we incorporate "professionalism skills" in classroom practices? This paper offers some specific methods employed in MET 100, and resulting outcomes the MET faculty members and students have observed. The framework for the methods can be broadly applied to other programs. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.