Innovations for Petroleum Engineering Education

This paper was prepared for the 45th Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Houston Tex., Oct. 4–7, 1970. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after, publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. Abstract There is much evidence to suggest a need for a change in our university teaching methods. New plans and patterns for developing more effective and more efficient instruction methods are a must. No longer can we tolerate a hopelessly inefficient system in which the teacher lectures and the students copy notes. An educational research program is necessary to design a totally new system to achieve more effective learning. This new teaching method must recognize that learning depends more on what the student does and not as much on what the teacher does. Learning depends a great deal on outside classroom student effort. Independent study is not new but the availability of it to all students at the university level in petroleum engineering education is a change. New educational technology certainly extends the professors' teaching effectiveness and provides a means for individualized student learning. The use of new systems of teaching in the School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering at the University of Oklahoma is discussed. New educational equipment and its use for continuing education courses for industrial personnel are also presented. The results of experiences from the last ten years of adult education techniques are discussed. Introduction Involvement means "to be occupied absorbingly or engrossingly, to engage the interest and emotions or commitment of." Students will learn when they are committed, occupied absorbingly with petroleum engineering problems or projects. One student's involvement petroleum engineering problems or projects. One student's involvement causes another student's interest and more and more students learn. What makes people want to learn to do more effective, creative, profitable work? What characteristics of the teacher encourage high productivity and creativity among students? What university policies prevent professors from being most effective for their students? What kind of classroom environment most often leads to satisfactory learning and a student's personal fulfillment? How can good personal communication between student and teacher become an everyday thing? These are all questions a teacher must answer. For a professor to achieve maximum utilization of his talents to teach he must make full use of the creative skills and abilities of his students.