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EG25G5: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 3 (2021-2022)

Last modified: 31 May 2022 13:05


Course Overview

This course is part of the level 2 programme in the Graduate Apprenticeship in BEng in Civil Engineering, and is only available to students on that programme.  It is the third in a series of such courses, which series aims to develop professional awareness in the Student Apprentices, by a sequence of reflective essay assignments on the students' employability as they progress through the programme.  At the same time, this series is also intended to develop the practice of professional writing skills.

This second course has Sustainability as its main theme.  The student will be required to reflect on the responsibility of the Engineer to take into account sustainability in Engineering decisions, and to reflect on both the literature on the subject and on relevant personal and other professional experience.

The course is only available to students on the Graduate Apprenticeship in BEng in Civil Engineering

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 2
Term Summer School Credit Points 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Paul C. Davidson

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Bachelor Of Engineering In Engineering (Civil Grad App)
  • Engineering (EG)
  • Any Undergraduate Programme
  • EG15G3 Professional Development 1 (Passed)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

This course is a 15 credit second half session level 2 course, carried out during the period of Work-Based Learning, and will follow the format of the preceding level 1 course by being assessed by two written assessments, a 2000 word essay on a selected Case Study from the literature on Ethics, and an end-of-half-session essay of no more than 5000 words.

 

The task set to the students will be to prepare essays on the impact of sustainability on the practice of being a Professional Engineer.  Students will be required to access the significant amount of good material on Sustainability prepared by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Institutions, as well as to refer to relevant Case Study examples available online and in the literature.  For example:

 

https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/other/engineering-for-sustainable-development

 

https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=25620

 

Students will be assigned a particular Case Study from the literature to write a short essay on sustainability half way through the half session, to prepare them for the final essay, which requires more personal reflection.  The impact of an awareness of sustainability on the students' career to date, and anticipated impacts going forward will be an important aspect of the personal reflection required for this course.  It is hoped that this course will provide an opportunity for Work Based Learning to provide a context for the 75% final essay.

 

Taken together with the other two courses on Professional Development this course will contribute to the development of the attributes of a Professional Engineer, as defined by the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM).  Developing these attributes is to enhance the Graduate’s Employability, as it is defined by the Engineering Profession.  The JBM welcome page mentions the themes that are to be developed in this series of Professional Development courses, including the Sustainability theme of this third course in the series:

 

https://jbm.org.uk/Home


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 75
Assessment Weeks 49 Feedback Weeks 52

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

Essay to be submitted online via MyAberdeen and textual feedback provided also via MyAberdeen

 

This second essay will be for the students to describe, discuss and critique a situation in which sustainability has been a significant influence on decision-making within their personal, or their Employer’s, practice.  The latter will require some fact-finding interviews with their GA Mentor and possibly other work colleagues.  As with the essays in the other Professional Development courses in this series, the purpose will be to give them further practice at writing, as well as further feedback and encouragement from the tutor on the development of their writing skills, but also to assess their grasp of this particular topic as part of their becoming a Professional Engineer

 

Word Count 5000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseAwareness of Case Studies where Sustainability has been a key theme
FactualUnderstandAwareness of Professional Literature on Sustainability in Engineering
ProceduralCreatePractice at writing in a professional manner
ReflectionEvaluateAwareness of sustainability in personal practice of Engineering and an ability to incorporate an environmentally responsible and sustainable approach in personal Engineering decisions

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 25
Assessment Weeks 30 Feedback Weeks 33

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Feedback

Essay to be submitted online via MyAberdeen and textual feedback provided also via MyAberdeen.

 

This essay will be for the students to describe, discuss and critique from their own perspective a particular Case Study chosen by the tutor on the impact of sustainability on Civil Engineering, either in the innovation of a new product, or in the decision making associated with a particular project.  The source for the Case Study may be from the information made available by the Royal Academy of Engineering, or from the wider literature.  The purpose will be to give them practice at writing, and feedback from the tutor on their writing, as well as to monitor their development of the topic, and their engagement with its key themes,  as they progress towards the more reflective major essay at the end of the module.

Word Count 2000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseAwareness of Case Studies where Sustainability has been a key theme
FactualUnderstandAwareness of Professional Literature on Sustainability in Engineering
ProceduralCreatePractice at writing in a professional manner

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Resubmission of failed element

Assessment Type Summative Weighting
Assessment Weeks 3 Feedback Weeks 6

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Feedback

Resit involves a re-submission of whichever of the two essays way failed, each with their original weighting, and the resit mark incorporating the original grade for whichever essay was passed.

To be submitted online via MyAberdeen and textual feedback provided also via MyAberdeen.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
FactualUnderstandAwareness of Professional Literature on Sustainability in Engineering
ConceptualAnalyseAwareness of Case Studies where Sustainability has been a key theme
ReflectionEvaluateAwareness of sustainability in personal practice of Engineering and an ability to incorporate an environmentally responsible and sustainable approach in personal Engineering decisions
ProceduralCreatePractice at writing in a professional manner

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