Conference Session

Learning to Communicate with Engineers and Non-Engineers

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leslie Potter, Iowa State University; John Jackman, Iowa State University; K. Jo Min, Iowa State University; Matthew Search, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Yalvac et al. describe how an engineering course was redesigned topromote advanced writing skills by adding writing exercises based on the VaNTH taxonomy ofcore competency skills in writing.11 Many educators and institutions recognize the value ofincreasing communication emphasis in a longitudinal manner throughout a student’s academicprogram.12, 13 While this emphasis is significant and necessary for developing efficient and Page 13.71.2effective engineering graduates, increased “practice” time and/or varied assignment formats arenot sufficient by themselves to accomplish this goal. Just as a successful engineering design isachieved through

Conference Session

Beyond Individual Ethics: Engineering in Context

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

diverse disciplinary approaches in a way that is bothpedagogically coherent and immediately relevant to students’ experiences.Introduction [S]ystemic engineering reform, and its [traditional] curricular and programmatic forms…, will only have limited success until the relationship between engineers’ identity and knowledge and method is fully addressed, and an integration of the liberal arts—particularly those areas dealing with the relationship between engineering and culture and politics—takes place.1This paper analyzes Rensselaer’s Product Design and Innovation (PDI) program as a potentialmodel for a new liberal education for engineering students that achieves the high level ofintegration of technical and liberal arts