Using international engineering experiences to inform curriculum development

This paper outlines learning objectives for students engaged in international work and offers an example case study exemplifying how to utilize these objectives. They will serve as a basis for designing curricula and workshops to help students learn to work in foreign environments before leaving campus. These multifunctional learning objectives were based on research conducted with students participating in extracurricular international service-learning projects abroad. Prior findings of this research outlined the impacts of international engineering experiences on student growth and learning. The objectives presented in this paper are based on the six categories of student development identified by our prior research and include: Technical knowledge, communication, personal growth, project management, community-based development, and intercultural awareness. These areas of development were discovered through analysis of student reflections, interviews, and discussions of students who had traveled with Engineers Without Borders to Cameroon, Guatemala, Haiti, and Nigeria. The learning objectives for each area of development were written in reference to the six learning domains outlined in Bloom's Taxonomy. By publishing these objectives we wish to further encourage a participatory approach from both the academic and non-Academic communities at large. This compilation of objectives and potential applications can guide others as they prepare students for international engineering work.