Preparing students to compete in the global marketplace

As globalization continues to relocate technical engineering jobs from the United States to overseas locations, it is critical that engineering programs in the U.S. consider the development of skills and abilities that will set their graduates apart and allow them to compete with their overseas counterparts. This paper describes a new course that is intended to provide this type of experience for undergraduates. The course makes use of e-learning technology and active learning techniques to develop graduates who will be comfortable communicating across cultures using technology to manage projects, team relationships, and collaborative design projects. The course was pilot-tested in the '04/'05 academic year, with results from the formative assessment incorporated as appropriate.