Professional society meetings

Your name: Don Cameron

Field or discipline: Civil Engineering
Program: LBMI
Course: CIVE 3008
Year level: 3
Class size: 45
Activity type: Extracurricular

Description: Students are asked to attend meetings of the Engineering Professional Society and listen to speakers, take notes and prepare a short précis (marked very generously). It was an optional activity where students were awarded bonus marks (3-5%) for participation.

It can be hit or miss depending on the speaker. It's important not to expect too much understanding by the students; it is more about exposing them to the profession and the discipline. One high-level academic from the UK was particularly effective with my students. This presentation could have been pitched well above their heads to impress the rest of the audience, but it turned out to be an engaging talk on the general problems and solutions the discipline faces but the students really enjoyed.

One problem was that some students cannot attend these lectures because of the hours, so an alternative was explored this year. Students could choose to read and précis a conference paper or journal paper. However only one student took up the offer.

Application: Yes this could be applied in other disciplines