The following article was written a year ago in response to a required takeaway from the attended summit.
This is the first time I made my DEAR framework impactful.
Meaningful yearning for wise adaptation yields elaboration taught me a life of purpose: to leave this world a better place than I found it. Education clears my path. Elaboration givesme direction. Mapua may set an avenue to dream, experience, achieve, and reflect. Despite the misgivings, we can have a shared goal.
Dream
The journey to another century of Mapua’s legacy starts with a dream: to address complex engineering problems. And what can be more complex than human affairs? The answer “I” seems funny but nevertheless not short of explanation. The “I” is no longer an imaginary number but an individual imaginative role in sustaining the future. This dream is shaped by Dr. Maestrecampo’s 10-point agenda.
Experience
Atty. Katherine Panguban’s speech on Cultivating Values for Nation Building poses a challenge on how universities integrate patriotism, civic responsibility and social justice into curricula and campus culture. How can universities shape their graduates to become skilled professionals while being socially conscious citizens? She confidently suggested their immersion practice in law school where students get to assist in actual cases. The fireside discussion professes patriotism starts with fulfilling student’s duty to the parents to study rather than go to the street for demonstration. However, I still have questions in mind. If the lawyer’s role is to defend the client and if the client is reasonably guilty, how can we train the students to choose letting the client face the penalty rather than helping him be absolved from guilt? Because getting away from wrongdoing increases the environment of injustice. Also, in a place where excellence means winning, it is a dangerous ground for professionals’ sense of civic responsibility and social justice. The same challenge lingers in the engineering profession in the planning and implementation of substandard projects. How can we train the students to balance social responsibility and self-preservation? How can they discern discipline from power trips? If there’s an item or characterization on behavioral exam on this, I guess it can be considered in the rubric for coursework. We can adapt the test to evaluate students’consciousness of the achieved professed context.
Adapt to achieve
In this time of global community, diversity intertwines the fabric of human affairs. Collaboration is weaved using the interdisciplinary wisdom and artificial intelligence’s speed and endurance. Dr. Borromeo’s breaking silos for holistic education inter professional learning and team-based care in the hospital reminds me to be a team player more than a task player. The latter excels at individuality while the former thrives in ‘groupy’ to ensure collective success. The Internet and e-commerce democratized business, making it a playground for ideas. Dr. Viroya’s keynote to the tune of Entrepreneurship celebrated his online learning videos business. He believes that entrepreneurs are not born, but honed, one experience at a time. Technology has proven to be a useful and convenient startup method for business processes and products. Team effort, lessons in experimentation trial and error, and an adaptable mindset can help achieve lifelong learning.
Reflect
The last fireside discussion on leveraging and giving certification to graduates who opted unlicensed professional practice can be harnessed for skills capacity building and for revenue is a great idea of adapting to professional citizenship and social responsibility.
The following summarizes my take on the summit’s goal and curriculum integration
Sustainability
In Computer Engineering, applications and prototypes that consume less computing power leave less carbon footprint. Although minimal, the concept of optimization can be inculcated. With that, Software subjects may be required a coursework that optimizes laboratory activity like comparing the effect of different loop implementation, of libraries and of APIs. Hardware subjects may compare through simulation or implementation in the effect of using a sensor over the other given the required functionality.
Tap Alumni
Each professional course will require coursework that involves an alumnus. The alumnus gets to mentor on the course application or technology use in their current job position. For example, in CPE105, the student taps a CPE alumnus and be mentored on server administration as it is used in their company/industry through Interview or/and operation observation.
Understanding
In engineering design thinking, the journey starts with empathy. Along the way, you get to understand yourself and society. In TedX next, one of the ways to adapt to the changing world is ‘go wild with generosity.’ Understanding can be that currency. Current events, news and opinions can be sources of need in courses with the design of experiments. Students can ask if that can be an engineering problem. Solutions can be derived from their analysis and creativity.
Feedback
Taping an alumni mentor can echo industries’ cry for talents, shared projects and resources. Non-thesis professional courses’ student or groups report/s on an industry or company to answer a question for a coursework: How does their company/technology improve the lives of the Filipino using Computer Engineering?
Fun
Hackathons can be a fun way to instill and practice entrepreneurship among students. It can comprise students from different levels forming a group with a background in software and hardware. Freshmen and sophomores get to practice their general courses as a team player. This will foster teamwork and camaraderie.
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