World Engineering Education Forum: Engineering Education for Sustainable Development and Social Inclusion

Abstract

The development of science and technology in the last fifteen years has shown new dimensions of reality characterized by complex interactions on the physical, quantum, biological, cognitive, social and ecological areas, enabling new ways of producing information and knowledge. This paper aims to show a framework of a new curricular development approach that is based on the paradigm of complexity that shall meet the knowledge needs of the society of the XXI century. This proposed framework highlights the importance and the responsibility of engineering within the techno-scientific and social context, the role that the new engineer represents, the required skills and the new role that the university faculty member must play to facilitate meaningful learning. It is presently being evaluated for implementation at the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida (USF) – Tampa, Florida in collaboration with the College of Education at the Universidad del Bosque – Bogotá, Colombia.