Addressing Communication Issues through Faculty/Student Participation

Many changes in our current curriculum began with a study of t activities within our program, the communication needs of our students, the resources available to us, and the dictates of the ABET criteria implemented almost 15 years ago. The need to assess current engineering practices became clearly evident. Studies focusing on communication needs, suddenly took on a much greater importance when placed in juxtaposition with the other ABET requirements. Communication skill in engineering was addressed in a survey that looked at the perceptions of faculty and students to needed communication skill acquisition in mechanical engineering. Basic information regarding the perceived inadequacies of students' communication skills from both the students and the faculty perspectives was collected. These results were tabulated and the concerns addressed. By viewing the data gleaned from students and faculty, the comments made helped to set new and varied goals for students and faculty in the college of engineering. Departments of engineering spent a great deal of time preparing for the new accreditation standards under EC 2000. The flexibility inherent in the way in which engineering departments address the needs of engineers can be both exciting and uncomfortable. Some departments saw the above flexibility as too vague and therefore suspect. The area of communication may be one of the problem areas because a typical response from engineering faculty may still be, "I am not an English teacher!" The lack of specific requirements may make faculty feel that they will be forced into teaching topics or skills that may not be comfortable for them. This paper focuses on an ongoing study of attitudes and concerns toward communication begun in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. Students and faculty were asked to comment on areas of concern in communication, areas that have received little or no attention or areas that seem to be purposely avoided. The first stage of this study is completed. A report on the survey's findings is introduced along with how those findings were used to adapt the curriculum to a more communication oriented focus. It is hoped that by addressing the general problems experienced by both writers and speakers in the engineering curriculum, a foundation will be formed upon which a system for improved communication skill in engineering can be built.