Registry

Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2012 - 2013
Please note that this information is subject to change.

Module Title	Fundamentals of Professional Development
Module Code	EM105
School	School of Electronic Engineering
Online Module Resources
Module Co-ordinator	Semester 1: Alan Kennedy Semester 2: Alan Kennedy Autumn: Alan Kennedy
Module Teacher	Barry McMullin
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5
Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

Description

The module is designed to develop initial student knowledge, skills and competencies in a broad range of areas of professional practice, including: professional ethics, effective learning, professional communication, career planning and development, health and safety, equality, universal design, product safety, sustainability, and working in a team environment.

Learning Outcomes

1. Reflect critically on learning experiences and career planning and development, identifying more and less effective approaches in professional education, and be able to identify and summarise DCU regulations and policies relevant to the learning environment.
2. Use accurate vocabulary in discussing issues of professional ethics. Describe the main aspects of the Institution of Engineers code of ethics.
3. Identify and summarise aspects of Irish and EU legislation affecting engineering practice, including personnel health and safety, equality, universal design, and product safety.
4. Identify the role and interaction between engineering products and systems and environmental impacts, especially energy use and climate change.
5. Write technical reports, communicating a balanced review of complex and/or controversial ideas; demonstrate appropriate academic and professional standards of written communication, including spelling, grammar, structure, citation, and presentation in both electronic and hardcopy forms.
6. Work effectively and professionally in a team environment.

Workload	Full-time hours per semester
*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Lecture	14	Presentation of core module topics
Seminars	10	Guest seminar sessions
Assignment	6	Careers portfolio
Assignment	20	Learning journal reflections
Independent learning time	20	Critical reflection on guest seminars
Group work	40	Engineering research report
Independent learning	15	Background reading and research on module topics
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Overview.
Introduction to the module: learning outcomes and activities. Use of moodle..

Learning journal.
Briefings and feedback for the reflections on the learning experience. Provided online..

Career development.
Students will be helped to identify their career skills, values, motivational factors and to become aware of key skills sought by employers. Students will be shown how to adopt a developmental approach to career choices. They will be informed about resources on careers information and encouraged in aself help approach. Students will develop their ability to source and apply for appropriate job/summer internship and graduate program opportunities, including the preparation of a professional Cover Letter and CV..

Team based engineering research project.
Students will be organised into teams and required to complete an engineering research report. This will involve first selecting and agreeing some engineering problem, product or service of interest to the team. Then this topic must be researched, with careful attention to critical evaluation and comparison of different sources. The topic must then be communicated in a professional engineering research report, demonstrating appropriate academic and professional standards of written communication, including spelling, grammar, structure, citation, and presentation in both electronic and hardcopy forms..

Guest seminar sessions.
There will be a series of seminar sessions with invited guest speakers addressing core modules topics. The detailed speakers and topics may vary from year to year, but will typically include: health and safety, equality, universal design, and product safety, sustainability, energy, climate change, ethical practice, and the organisaton and regulation of the engineering profession..

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	70%	Examination Weight	30%

Course Work Breakdown
Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Reflective journal	Written reflections on learning approaches and experiences	20%	Sem 2 End
Report (s) (written / oral)	Career development portfolio	10%	Week 23
Group assignment	Engineering research report	40%	Week 26

Reassessment Requirement
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; 1 = A resit is available for all components of the module 2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module 3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
This module is category 1

Indicative Reading List

Other Resources

389, Document, DCU Registry, 0, DCU Marks & Standards, http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/marks_and_standards.pdf, 390, website, DCU Registry, 0, Examinations Office, http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/, 391, website, DCU Careers Service, 0, Career management skills, http://www.dcu.ie/students/careers/CMS/, 392, Document, Engineers Ireland, 0, Code of Ethics, http://www.engineersireland.ie/about-us/governance/code-of-ethics-and-bye-laws/, 393, Document, Stephen H. Unger, 1999, Some Recent Engineering Ethics Cases That Have Come to the IEEE, National Academy of Engineering (US): Online Ethics Center, http://www.onlineethics.org/CMS/profpractice/ppcases/ungercases.aspx, 394, website, 0, Health & Safety Authority (Ireland), http://www.hsa.ie/, 395, website, 0, Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), http://www.sei.ie/, 396, blog, 0, Real Climate, http://www.realclimate.org/, 397, blog, 0, World Changing, http://www.worldchanging.com/, 398, website, 0, National Disability Authority (Ireland), http://www.nda.ie/, 399, website, 0, Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD), http://www.universaldesign.ie/, 400, website, University of Melbourne, 0, Guide to IEEE Citation and Referencing Style, http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/cite/ieee/,

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