Work In Progress &amp;#8211; An Integrated Engineering Communications Curriculum for the 21&amp;gt;sup&amp;lt;st&amp;gt;/sup&amp;lt;Century

Paretti, Marie C.; Burgoyne, Christine

doi:10.1109/fie.2005.1612098

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…8, 2017 DOI: 10.1007/s11837-017-2445-0 Ó 2017 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society assessment. 1,2 As of the 2016-17 academic year, courses and roughly 400 MSE and BEAM students. Covered topics included business and professional communications, technical communications, and teamwork and project management skills.…”

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confidence: 99%

Developing Communications Skills in the Next Generation of Engineers

2017

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confidence: 99%

Developing Communications Skills in the Next Generation of Engineers

2017

JOM

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“…[8] Data from the upcoming years should thus help demonstrate if and how those changes impact students' work with the written and oral assignments in the capstone projects.…”

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confidence: 99%

Integrating Engineering and Communication: A Study of Capstone Design Courses

Paretti

Burgoyne²

Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference

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-This paper presents results from a study investigating the use of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) as a framework for integrating communication into engineering courses. The results of a two-year study of capstone design courses suggest that PBL provides the opportunity to develop communication assignments that enable students to understand not only particular document formats, but also the role texts play in the workplace for both writers and readers. Surveys and interview data demonstrate that students learn to use texts as tools to advance engineering work and communicate key project information to managers. The framework thus effectively helps students treat communication activities as a critical element of professional engineering practice. transaction between individuals in specific contexts to accomplish particular goals. In the language of activity theory, texts are mediating artifacts that writers/speakers and readers/listeners use to accomplish external goals. Index TermsImportantly, being "good writers" does not automatically make students "effective communicators." Texts that are elegantly written or that follow the correct document formulas may still not achieve the desired outcomes if the writer fails to take into account the needs, interests, and goals of the particular audience in the particular situation at hand. For example, a student may consider a proposal as a document that follows a specific format: an executive summary, a statement of need, a project description, a project plan, a budget, and a statement of qualifications. The "formula" is the operative identifier. However, experts treat a proposal as a tool whereby those with money to spend and goals to achieve select "worthwhile" individuals or organizations to receive the money and achieve the goals.Within that activity system, the written proposal is often only one of multiple texts used in the transaction; phone calls, face-to-face meetings, pre-proposals, statements of qualifications, and similar texts may all play critical roles in the larger activity of earning and spending money to achieve desired outcomes. Thus an NSF proposal that follows the specific guidelines defined in the Guide to Writing Proposals must still address the broader impact in terms that matter explicitly to the program writing the solicitation. In addition, principle investigators also frequently contact program managers by phone or email, visit NSF offices prior to submitting grants, suggest proposal reviewers with particular expertise in the area in question, and thus create a whole set of written and oral texts around the individual proposal itself.Given that communicating involves far more than grammatical correctness and readable style, then, the question for engineering educators is "How do we design and sequence instruction in communication to best prepare students for the roles they (and their texts) will play in professional contexts?" Paretti has written elsewhere about specific guidelines for designing effective assignments and grading rubrics ...

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