Lifelong Learning and Professional Practices in Engineering, Lecture notes of Computer Programming

Download Lifelong Learning and Professional Practices in Engineering and more Lecture notes Computer Programming in PDF only on Docsity! URS-IM-AA-CI-0413 Rev 00 Effective Date: August 24, 2020 Republic of the Philippines UNIVERSITY OF RIZAL SYSTEM Morong, Rizal COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Course Guide in CPE 21 CPE LAWS AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE for BS Computer Engineering Program URS-IM-AA-CI-0413 Rev 00 Effective Date: August 24, 2020 Module 5: Lifelong Learning Strategies Lesson 5.1 What is Lifelong Learning? What are you going to do after you graduate? Lifelong learning is a much talked-about topic in education, but what exactly do we mean when we talk about lifelong learning? According to The UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning, lifelong learning is the ongoing, voluntary and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Lifelong learning may encompass many different forms of learning it can be informal and formal learning, vocational training, or professional training. This means learning to better support ourselves, our families, and our communities or even just for fun. As a concept, lifelong learning is to: 1. Promote opportunities throughout life a. it means disrupting the current model by promoting learning opportunities throughout our entire lives. 2. Promote learning for life in our formal system a. It also means transforming our formal system to promote the joy of learning and prepare students for a lifetime of enjoyable learning. 3. Link all systems together a. Linking all systems together to support learning across life, ensuring that learnings can progress from one pathway to another. b. This system could be the government, communities, professionals and nonprofessional. Why is lifelong learning needed? Opportunities for education and learning are confined to schooling during childhood and adolescence. But in actual fact, we know that people have the potential to learn throughout their whole lives. Formal education doesn’t always work when it comes to preparing all of us for our entire lives and lifetime of learning. Educational opportunity in a formal system is sometimes unequal and many get left behind or left out along the way. About half of all public education resources in low-income countries are allocated to the 10% of students that are most educated and UNESCO data expose wide inequalities in provision. Without learning opportunities after school, there is no second chance or safety net for those that missed out. UNESCO data confirms that approximately 758 million adults globally are unable to read or write with 63% living in Asia. We live the majority of our life as an adult and nearly half of the countries worldwide spend less 1% of their public education budget on adult learning. Today, the world is radically different. Technology is moving at a faster pace than ever before. An estimated 65% of children will end up in the jobs that do not exist yet and even further change may yet take place. Can formal schooling alone accommodate these shifts? The next generation may also face even greater challenges than we do now, from growing inequality to conflicts, displacement and climate change. Lifelong URS-IM-AA-CI-0413 Rev 00 Effective Date: August 24, 2020 a. Engineer sometimes complains that they have to use oversimplified language in explaining technical matters to managers and that their managers do not really understand the engineering issues. 3. Engineers who are not managers aspire to management role where financial rewards and prestige are perceived to be greater. a. Many engineers who do not yet occupy the dual roles of engineer and manager probably expect to do so at some time in their career. This conflict can be internalized within the same person because many engineers have roles as engineer and manager. b. For example, Robert Lund, vice president for engineering at Morton Thiokol at the time of the challenger disaster, was both an engineer and a manager. Before disaster, Lund was even directed by his superior to take managerial rather than the engineering perspective. This account of differences between perspectives of engineers and managers suggests the possibility of frequent conflict. This prediction is confirmed by a well-known study by sociologist Robert Jackall. Although his study focuses only infrequently on the relationship between managers and professionals, his occasional references to the relationship of managers to engineers and other professionals make it clear that he believes his general description of the manager–employee relationship applies to the relationship of managers to professionals, including engineers. In his study of managers in several large U.S. corporations, Jackall found that large organizations place a premium on ‘‘functional rationality,’’ which is a ‘‘pragmatic habit of mind that seeks specific goals.’’ Jackall found that the managers and firms he studied had several characteristics that were not conducive to respecting the moral commitments of conscientious professionals. 1. First, the organizational ethos does not allow genuine moral commitments to play a part in the decisions of corporate managers, especially highly placed ones. a. A person may have whatever private moral beliefs she chooses, as long as these beliefs do not influence behavior in the workplace. She must learn to separate individual conscience from corporate action. Managers, according to Jackall, prefer to think in terms of trade-offs between moral principles, on the one hand, and expediency, on the other hand. 2. Second, loyalty to one’s peers and superiors is the primary virtue for managers. a. The successful manager is the team player, the person who can accept a challenge and get the job done in a way that reflects favorably upon himself and others. 3. Third, lines of responsibility are deliberately blurred to protect oneself, one’s peers, and one’s superiors. a. Details are pushed down and credit is pushed up. Actions are separated from consequences insofar as this is possible so that responsibility can be avoided. In making difficult and controversial decisions, a successful manager will always get as many people involved as possible so he can point his finger at others if things go wrong. He should also avoid putting things in writing to avoid being held responsible. Protecting and covering URS-IM-AA-CI-0413 Rev 00 Effective Date: August 24, 2020 for one’s boss, one’s peers, and oneself supersedes all other considerations. Lesson 6.3 Being Morally Responsible in an Organization without getting Hurt In order to be morally responsible in an organization without suffering the fate of the employees in Jackall’s study, engineers must first have some understanding of the organization in which they are employed. This knowledge helps engineers to understand (1) how they and their managers tend to frame issues under the influence of the organization and (2) how one can act in the organization effectively, safely, and in a morally responsible way. It is generally agreed that organizational culture is set at the top of an organization— by high-level managers, by the president or chief executive officer of the organization, by directors, and sometimes by owners. If the organization values success and productivity over integrity and ethical principles, these values will powerfully influence the decisions of members of the organization. The values become, in the words of one writer, ‘‘a mindset, a filter through which participants view their world.” Understanding these three types of firms helps us understand the organizational cultures in which engineers work. 1. Engineer-Oriented Companies a. In these firms, there is general agreement that quality takes priority over other considerations, except safety. In the words of one manager, ‘‘We have overdesigned our products and would rather lose money than diminish our reputation.’’ 2. Customer-Oriented Companies a. Decision making is similar to that of engineer-oriented firms, but with four significant differences. First, managers think of engineers as advocates of a point of view different from their own. Whereas managers must focus on such business factors as timing and cost, engineers should focus on quality and safety. Second, more emphasis is placed on business considerations than in engineer-oriented companies. Third, as with engineer-oriented companies, safety outranks quality. Sometimes quality can be sacrificed to get the product out the door. Finally, communication between engineers and managers may be somewhat more difficult than in engineer-oriented firms. Managers are more concerned about engineers’ withholding information, even though consensus is highly valued. 3. Finance-Oriented Companies a. Although possessing far less information about this category of firms, based on the information available, that these firms are more centralized and that this has important consequences. For example, engineers may receive less information for making decisions and consequently their decisions are given less weight by managers. Managers are less inclined to try to reach consensus, and engineers are seen as having a ‘‘staff’’ and advisory function. URS-IM-AA-CI-0413 Rev 00 Effective Date: August 24, 2020 Module 7: Trade-offs in Professional Practices Lesson 7.1 What is Trade-off? A trade-off is when one thing is given up in order to get another. Trade-offs in economics typically relate to an opportunity cost, which means missing out on something when you choose one alternative over another. When you make a trade-off, it means that you're likely to make sacrifices in other aspects to get what you want most. Lesson 7.2 How to Make Strategic Trade-Offs? Filmmaker Shyamalan said, “At my core I’m a minimalist. When you put limitations on what you’re working on, that’s when you find your voice and your beauty. I’m always telling crew members or filmmakers think of what you do as Sushi making, the least amount of ingredients at the highest quality level.” More information, more data, more content, more channels, more choices, and in a world of more it’s important to master less. Path for less is not easy, to reduce more to less we need the discipline to focus. To focus is to intentionally channel your attention, effort, and resources toward a singular point. That point may be a person, project, activity, or goal but it stands alone in your mind at least for now. Focus is a foundation of both organizational and individual success. When you think of successful companies, they typically begin by focusing in one area to become great. Example, Google and search, Nvidia and Graphics processing, Amazon and online retail, etc. Kevin Plank, self-made billionaire and founder of sports and equipment maker under armor said, “focus is one of the most important things to have in your business. For the first five years as we grew our company from zero to five million, we made really one shirt.” There are three causes that lead to a failure to focus along: 1. Unclear on the core a. If focusing means we’re directing attention toward a single point, we better make sure that it’s the right point. The right point is the activity area offering initiative that will help you progress the predetermined goal. b. Identify which activities you are doing does not really help you progress on your goal. 2. Multitasking a. Multitasking can kill your productivity. b. Professor Clifford of NASA studies from Stanford University states that managers who continually shift between multiple tasks do not manage those tasks as well as those who focus on one thing at a time. c. While multitasking may make you feel more productive, it’s actually hurting your overall performance. 3. Inability to make Trade-Offs