{"title":"Developing technical report writing skills in first and second year engineering students: a case study using self-reflection","authors":"R. Selwyn, I. Renaud-Assemat","doi":"10.1080/23752696.2019.1710550","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Technical writing skills are vital to professional engineers, but many engineering students find them difficult to master. This paper presents a case study carried out among ~300 first and second year engineering students who had little previous experience in technical writing. The aim was to support them to write better technical reports. Students were asked to write an 800-word report following an experimental laboratory and to include written reflection on their work. This improved writing skills (as measured by mark awarded and by questionnaires completed by students before and after the activity) by encouraging self-regulation and had the additional benefit that students were more satisfied with and engaged with the feedback they received on their work.","PeriodicalId":43390,"journal":{"name":"Higher Education Pedagogies","volume":"5 1","pages":"19 - 29"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23752696.2019.1710550","citationCount":"11","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Higher Education Pedagogies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23752696.2019.1710550","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 11
Abstract
ABSTRACT Technical writing skills are vital to professional engineers, but many engineering students find them difficult to master. This paper presents a case study carried out among ~300 first and second year engineering students who had little previous experience in technical writing. The aim was to support them to write better technical reports. Students were asked to write an 800-word report following an experimental laboratory and to include written reflection on their work. This improved writing skills (as measured by mark awarded and by questionnaires completed by students before and after the activity) by encouraging self-regulation and had the additional benefit that students were more satisfied with and engaged with the feedback they received on their work.
期刊介绍:
The aim of Higher Education Pedagogies is to identify, promote and publish excellence and innovations in the practice and theory of teaching and learning in and across all disciplines in higher education. The journal will provide an international forum for the sharing, dissemination and discussion of research, experience and perspectives across a wide range of teaching and learning issues. The journal will prove a valuable resource for individuals in the development and enhancement of their own practice, and for institutions in the promotion of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Higher Education Pedagogies will focus on disciplinary pedagogies and learning experiences; the higher education curriculum, i.e. what is taught and how it is developed and enhanced including both skills and knowledge; the delivery of the higher education curriculum; how it is taught and how students learn, and academic development; the role of teaching and learning in the development of academic careers and its place within the profession. Higher Education Pedagogies welcomes papers which are accessible to both specialist and generalist readers and are theoretically and empirically rigorous. Through advancing knowledge of, and practice in, teaching and learning, Higher Education Pedagogies will prove essential reading for all those who wish to stay informed of state-of-the-art teaching and learning developments in higher education. Higher Education Pedagogies is sponsored by the Higher Education Academy.