Changing Course: Collaborative (Re)Design of an Engineering Communication Curriculum

Abstract

This paper presents preliminary findings of a project focused on strengthening engineering students’ communication abilities to better prepare them for the demands of their future workplaces. The project has several distinct but interconnected pieces, beginning with the assessment of a required engineering communication course. The assessment data revealed that the course is falling short in several areas. Recommendations to the program leadership included not only revising the course but also gathering additional data to determine whether students are graduating with the communication skills they will need to be successful professionally. The second phase of the project entails a survey of practitioners who comprise the industry advisory board for the engineering school—the first of several additional data collection points to identify curricular needs and how we might best address them. The board is very engaged with the school’s programs, sponsors capstone projects, and hires numerous program graduates. The survey gathers board members’ perspectives on the communication strengths and weaknesses of graduating seniors and recent graduates; it also collects information regarding new communication trends board members may be seeing in their workplaces, trends that engineering programs would want to incorporate into their pedagogy and curricula.