IMPROVING ENGINEERING STUDENTS' TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS

The ABET 2000 Criterion 3g states that engineering programs must educate students with "an ability to communicate effectively.(1)" Surveys of engineering graduates and current students at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) indicate that there is a desire on behalf of the students to experience more technical communication opportunities within engineering coursework. Traditionally, written and oral communication instruction has been conducted in a formal setting within the required three course sequence of ENGL 1301 (Introduction to Academic Writing and Argumentation), ENGL 2311 (Introduction to Professional and Technical Communication), and COMM 1315 (Basic Speech Communication) as part of the university's core educational requirements. The State of Texas has legislated a 120 semester credit hour restriction on degree requirements with the exception being a need for additional hours to receive accreditation. The Department of Engineering currently holds one of these exceptions but it is felt that it cannot be extended to cover a course specific to engineering communication. The authors, working in conjunction with the Communication and the Engineering and Computer Science Departments, respectively, have identified methodologies to improve and reinforce technical communication skills in the existing engineering curricula. Communication instruction has always been an important part of the university education process but this current initiative strives to focus on the study and improvement of technical communication skills throughout engineering coursework requirements. This reflects the need of employers for engineers with strong communication skills and the desire of our students to improve these skills. Three engineering courses have been targeted for the initiative: ENGR 1201 (Fundamentals of Engineering), ET 2371 (Metals and Ceramics), and ENGR 1171 (Engineering Ethics). The first two courses have a laboratory component with written laboratory reports and oral presentations while the third is a course created in direct response to ABET Criterion 3f (an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility) and requires extensive written communications in the form of written and oral assignments. These three courses also support the civil, mechanical, and engineering technology programs in the Engineering and Computer Science Department at WTAMU. Additionally, a section of COMM 1315 has also been targeted to participate in a common assignment with the ENGR 1201 course. This paper will examine student self-assessment before and after completion of the targeted engineering courses as well as for the common written technical communication assignment shared between the selected COMM 1315 and ENGR 1201 classes. Additionally, several exercises have been identified and incorporated into these courses to test their effectiveness and possible integration into other engineering courses. Preliminary results of this multiyear initiative indicate measureable improvement in students' application of technical communication skills in the targeted engineering courses. Preliminary results of this multiyear initiative indicate improved perception in students' application of technical communication skills in the targeted engineering courses.