infusing twenty-first-century skills into engineering education

The purpose of these studies was to evaluate the effectiveness of a modified introductory engineering class that used scrum practices to develop students’ twenty-first-century skills related to self-awareness, collaboration, and problem-solving. we conducted an evaluation of modified engineering courses in two universities. in study 1, 250 students completed end-of-semester surveys about the impact of the course on student development. in study 2, we collected survey data and course grades from 125 students completing the modified course and 109 completing the standard course. in study 1, students reported the class increased their excitement about pursuing a career in engineering, and reported improvement in all leadership skills assessed. in study 2, students in the modified course enjoyed the course more than those in the standard course. in all individual and team behaviors assessed, students in the modified course reported more improvement than students in the standard courses, although none reached statistical significance. the future of engineering is likely to be shaped by our ability to bolster twenty-first-century skills in engineering education. these studies provide initial evidence that scrum practices that infuse leadership development into engineering curriculum is effective at helping engineering students develop critical twenty-first-century skills. integrating leadership development into engineering curriculum is not yet commonplace, with many institutions separating it from engineering coursework. this paper describes an approach for integrating the two, and provides initial evidence that it can be done effectively, without sacrificing students’ experience or mastery of engineering content.