What does it mean to be a global engineer?

1/16/2014

It is the end of the school year here in Japan, and the final question posed to students in Advanced English class is "What does it mean to be a global engineer?" In class, we discussed this with concept webs, and then we did some reading and watched some videos to help us think about the idea. Now, students are tasked with creating their own definitions for what it means. This is rather timely this year, as the school administration looks to a new era of curriculum reform, with a greater focus on global understandings, relationships, and English development.

As students finish their definitions, they will post them here as comments. Do you agree with their definitions? Feel free to post comments as well. Who are global engineers? What do they do? Why are they important? I urge you to help students explore these questions.

12 Comments

Sojiro Sakuda

1/16/2014 01:44:32 pm

My definition of GE is:

Global engineers are people who is
'engineer', specialist for engineering and technologies used worldwide, and
'global', having a skill of international communication to cooperate and collaborate to achieve products.

Yuya Nakajima

1/16/2014 02:00:18 pm

I define Global engineers as Engineers who can work anywhere with their professional skill for cooperating and working them selves. I think the biggest potential to be required is ability to communicate with other language speakers through anything to act. In my opinion English is useful and one great way, but not the only way.

Lee Knowlton link

1/16/2014 02:29:40 pm

Wikipedia says engineers are people who "apply scientific knowledge, mathematics, and ingenuity to solve for technical problems."

Global engineers, then, are engineers who have the potential to work on a global scale. This includes using technologies to the same extent as their counterparts in other parts of the world. It also means, as Sojiro commented, having the ability to cooperate and collaborate with people around the world.

As Yuya mentioned above, English is not the only way to work with people from other countries. However, right now it is the most commonly used language for engineers (at least in the area I know best...computers).

Globalization is a popular phrase right now. It means that our world is becoming increasingly connected. This has the potential to improve the world greatly. However, the tight connections that come from globalization are also creating new risks (like the 2008 banking problem).

Global engineers will need both the technical skills and communicative ability to help push the good parts of globalization forward and lessen the risks.

Keigo Kawasaki

1/20/2014 08:11:01 am

Global engineers are the engineers who has some skills to do projects with the engineers all over the world. Therefore they need a lot of professional skills and knowledge, some connections around the world, some skills to communicate with the people all around the world.

Miki Nishimura

1/20/2014 08:21:45 am

I think Engineers have skills and many experiences to make things such as buildings, machines, software, etc… Global Engineers have skills to communicate with many people. I think these skills help engineers to work in the world.

Tomoki

1/20/2014 08:29:56 am

A global engineer is someone who could work with people all over the world, so global engineers require both technical skills and communication skills. Many global engineers are required to speak English, because it is the most helpful language for international communication. Also they should have an understanding of differences between countries like cultures, perspectives and histories, because this is an essential elements for working with other people

Haruka Iwatsubo

1/20/2014 08:30:52 am

I believe, global engineers are people who think about many people’s opinions and work to design things people want and need. They should know customer’s needs, and try to solve it. Many people can speak English, so I think global engineers should speak English to communicate with people from English speaking country.

Chihiro Honda

1/20/2014 08:33:33 am

Global engineers are people who have both engineering skills and communication skills together, I think. They create things by collaborating on projects with people around the world.

Keita

1/20/2014 08:42:30 am

Global engineers need to have great communication skills and cooperate with many people. English is one way to communicate with people from abroad. Also they need technological knowledge especially knowledge of using computer.

Takuma

1/20/2014 08:43:57 am

I think global engineers are people who can work anywhere with anyone. To do that, global engineers should have useful engineer skills to use to teach. To work with anyone, global engineers should speak suitable language for understanding each other, such as English, Chinese or Spanish.

Soichiro

1/20/2014 09:07:30 am

Global engineers are people who can work with people from other countries and can communicate with anyone to tell them their own ideas. And, they have knowledge about engineering. I mean they are experts in their field.

Sarah link

1/22/2014 03:56:07 pm

All of your comments (i.e. definitions) of what it means to be a global engineer are great! You worked hard to develop these understandings and write these concise definitions. It seems there are two dimensions to global engineering. Global engineers need both excellent communications skills, which come with learning about different languages, "cultures, perspectives, and histories" (Tomoki), and even within one's own culture by developing empathy and collaborative ability. In addition, they need knowledge and skills within their field of engineering, so that they can share with and teach others as well as produce products and solutions. I also believe, as Haruka said, that they need to have an awareness of their customers' wants and needs. It reminds me of design thinking, where we start by looking at our potential customers or those with a problem we are trying to solve, and then design or innovate with them in mind.

I believe global engineers are also the people who are always looking at the "big picture" of how things, people, places, connect with one another; a problem abroad is also our own, and a solution here can be a solution there. I love projects like "Engineers Without Borders" and "Learning Express" for this reason. Two of our students in class will be heading to Indonesia this February to be part of Learning Express. I hope it's a great experience!

Again, great job!

Author

I'm Sarah Forbes. I'm the
K-1 ELL Teacher at John F. Kennedy Elementary, Vermont, and President-Elect of the Northern New England TESOL Board. I have my MATESOL and K-12 Licensure in ESL. I spent several years teaching English in Japan at Kanazawa Technical College and have also worked at Saint Michael's College as the Graduate Assistant to the Applied Linguistics Department, and Instructor in the Intensive English Program, and Summer TESOL Certificate Program. In addition, I have worked with Vermont Refugee Resettlement and through local grant budgets to provide English classes for Adults from the refugee community. I am passionate about sharing resources and experiences that can help other teachers in their work with ELLs.

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What does it mean to be a global engineer?

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