“There are all sorts of self-reflection that goes on when you’re away from home, like when you’re in a situation like that [being in a foreign environment]. And you realize what’s important and what you want to be focusing on and what you should be focusing on.”
One of the most apparent outcomes of participation in EWB that was observed was personal growth. Students openly recognized the impact their involvement in EWB had on their perspective of themselves, their career and the world. Traveling abroad required the project teams to work together to accomplish their goals even as they changed throughout the trip. The unpredictability of working in a new, foreign environment meant they had to be flexible and accommodating to unforeseen circumstances. This required each member to contribute, work together, and take on responsibilities that often involved doing new things and being in situations they were uncomfortable.
Being abroad presented personal challenges and often the more experienced project members helped others work through these challenges. Seeing cultures with living conditions so different from their own can be startling but ultimately students responded with an increased sense of responsibility to put their engineering expertise to meaningful work. Being abroad offered students an opportunity to reflect on themselves and their culture from a new perspective.
Within this category the following subcategories emerged from student reports: flexibility, teamwork, leadership, self-confidence, sense of responsibility, furthered engineering identity.
Flexibility
1. At this point, it was important to realize that you couldn’t get impatient—we would find it when we found it, etc. and there was no use getting worked up about it. – Guatemala Trip Participant
2. The other one that I think is a huge one is the flexibility and patience that we had and just to kind of go with the daily schedule while it varied a lot – we continued to be productive. So that was really good. -Guatemala Trip Participant
The reality of working in a foreign environment is that there will be surprises and to work through them one must be adaptable. Students quickly learn that no matter how thorough their plans prior to arrival were, things will not go as planned. Tasks often do not happen as efficiently as they would in the US. Conversations might last much longer than anticipated. Activities might be scheduled for the “morning” in the general sense as compared to a specific time, 10:00 A.M. for instance, which consequently leads to the idea that other pending tasks will have to remain flexible. Quotes 1 and 2 show two students reactions to the need for flexibility, both stressing the importance of patience.
Teamwork
3. I think one of the things that I’m going take away from this is the importance of formulating a good team. -Cameroon Trip Participant
4. [Before the trip] we were working a little bit, and we had weekly meetings and stuff, but this was definitely a big team-building trip. You know, we really learned to work together. – Cameroon Trip Participant
5. I became homesick for the first time today. It wore off quickly, but it made me realize how grateful I was to be with a group of people who cared about each other’s physical and mental states. This taught me not to take for granted the sense of friendship and camaraderie that comes from being with a relatively small group of people for an extended period of time. I think that without the connections I formed with the other people on the team, I would not have been able to effectively contribute to the project, because of a severe desire to be with people who understood me. – Guatemala Trip Participant
6. Our youngest participant was really nervous about stuff. So I was always looking out for her and making sure she felt like she was somewhere safe. And that was really important for me, I guess, to make sure that everyone in the group was doing well. So I guess I was sort of a mother hen type of figure, making sure that when somebody got sick, that they were taken care of like that -Cameroon Trip Participant
Projects require collaboration and a well-organized social structure to be effective (quote 3). While on-site teamwork it is imperative to make the most of the limited time. Being part of a six to eight member travel team meant each member was given a large amount of responsibility and the team developed a closer dynamic than while on campus (quote 4). Each student offered strengths in unique talents such as public speaking, organizational skills (e.g. note taking, data management), social skills, or expertise in certain aspects of the project (e.g. chemistry, local plants), etc. Having a travel team with a range of expertise allows for mentorship opportunities and the transfer of knowledge from senior to junior project members. Quotes 5 and 6 show how important it was for team members to work together and support each other throughout the experience.
Leadership
7. Although I will always have an interest and commitment to the project, there are younger students who need to step up to assume leadership and responsibility on the project. -Cameroon Trip Participant
8. Once they realized that it was okay to speak up, then they were much more vocal (a), and (b), they started taking leadership. -Cameroon Trip Participant
9. I learned quite a bit about leadership. It is easy to criticize, both by saying that it was in very poor judgment and also by saying the action was an abuse of leadership. However, I feel that I am also at fault. Due to my co-lead’s strong personality, I often choose to allow him to act in poor taste and then clean up the mess afterwards. –Guatemala Trip Participant
Student leaders seemed to naturally emerge among the project teams. Sometimes it would take time for the younger students to feel comfortable assuming these roles but with time they did (quote 8). Often a clear correlation could be made between the length of their involvement in EWB and the level of leadership required for their role on the project team. One senior project member noted the need to pass on leadership responsibilities to younger team members (quote 7). Other comments indicated senior project members tended to be the most familiar with the project details, the most comfortable making decisions, and have covered the most engineering coursework making them the natural choice to lead the group. However the presence of senior and junior EWB members is necessary for the sustainability of a project with rapid member turnover as is inevitable in a college setting.
Not every project will run perfectly smoothly but there is learning to be done in the mistakes and shortcomings too. In one instance two students were co-leading a project but failed to do so equally and with the poise necessary to manage a team of younger students. Quote 9 demonstrates that even though the leadership did not respond appropriately, they still took insight into good leadership away from the experience.
Self-confidence
10. I took a lot of confidence away because I felt we had a lot to offer the community and the construction workers, but I think in the end I just realized the construction workers had a lot to offer us. Watching them and how they did the construction work, I found myself taking tips from that, “Oh, that’s a really smart way to do this.” And so it was a both ways learning experience. -Guatemala Trip Participant
11. Interviewer: Tell me about your sense of confidence. Did that change from your experiences, and if so, how?
Student: I think it generally increased because I’ve learned so much that I can share with people.
A recurring theme in student interviews was a change in their sense of confidence. After commonly applying their learning to preset problems or theoretical situations in the engineering classroom, being able to apply knowledge while working in the field increased their confidence to work in the real world (quote 10). Even on a site-assessment trip collecting data and envisioning how it will inform future designs gives students a deeper confidence in their ability to assess a problem and design a solution and made them realize how much they have to offer (quote 11).
Sense of responsibility
12. The motivation is different. It’s a really big thing. It’s the fact that I see the people I’m helping or I see where engineering is going. Usually I don’t have the place to see the final outcome of what I do, especially in terms of cleaning water. -Guatemala Trip Participant
13. Projects that you’re volunteering for you never stop thinking about. Never stop thinking about the kids that are over there right now, while we’re sitting [on campus] … You’re always going to remember that community. -Cameroon Trip Participant
14. You don’t get that when you’re in a classroom. It’s when you’re out there and you’re talking to people that are suffering from water-borne illnesses and have children that are malnourished, that you really see the need. And I was able to really understand that more. -Guatemala Trip Participant
Engineering took on a new perspective to the students when they were able to witness firsthand how it affected people’s lives. The communities’ students were working with lived under very conditions than those the students lived. Seeing people who lived without access to proper health care, clean water, sanitation infrastructure, and education was an eye-opening experience (quote 14). Each student responded to this differently, but the most common response was an increased sense of responsibility as an engineer (quote 12). Students reported that after visiting their partner communities, their involvement in EWB changed from an extracurricular or professional development activity to an opportunity to directly improve a community’s quality of life. Being able to get to know the community they were working with left a strong impression that would not be soon forgotten (quote 13).
Furthered identity
15. There’s all sorts of self-reflection that goes on when you’re away from home, like when you’re in a situation like that. And you realize what’s important and what you want to be focusing on and what you should be focusing on. -Cameroon Trip Participant
Those little things are engineering decisions, where you weigh the pros and cons. And I think that is very important. I think that’s something that we bring [to the community], something that’s not taught in the classroom. Because you really don’t have all the outside factors within a classroom. You can try to create it with certain case studies; it’s just not the same. So there is a lot for a young developing engineer to learn, and I think this puts them in a better position for when they hit the working world.-Guatemala Trip Participant
16. I’m not comfortable doing anymore [international design work] until I refine and really get a handle on an area of expertise. -Cameroon Trip Participant
Students often feel a divide between being a student studying engineering and being a practicing professional engineer. Participating in experiences that allow for real world engineering can help close that gap. It gives students a tangible experience “being an engineer”: solving problems, making design decisions, and seeing their engineering designs get implemented. Bringing in unpredictable, outside factors gave a new sense of engineering to the student in quote 15. Often this sheds new light onto which aspects of engineering they enjoyed or want to pursue. Quote 16 represents one student’s desire to master a set of specific engineering skills before continuing to work on similar projects based in real communities.