Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions II: Communication and Transdisciplinary Pedagogies

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey J. Evans, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Amy S. Van Epps, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Michael Thomas Smith; Sorin Adam Matei, Purdue University Polytechnic Institute; Esteban Garcia

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Mechanical Engineering, Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

A Transdisciplinary Approach for Developing Effective Communication Skills in a First Year STEM SeminarAbstractMany STEM graduates leave school academically prepared in their fields however business leaders havebeen stating that they often lack the more intangible qualities such as teamwork, critical thinking,communication skills, and the ability to manage interpersonal relations. These are often referred to as”soft skills”, yet they are tightly coupled with professional performance. Furthermore, they are allconnected to basic communication skills, commonly referred to as oral and written communication, andtheir close counterparts, listening and reading. Such skills are not only add-ons to a STEM job, they canmake the

Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions I: Communication in Engineering Disciplines

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David A. Saftner, University of Minnesota Duluth; Mary U. Christiansen; Adrian T. Hanson, University of Minnesota Duluth; Jill D. Jenson, University of Minnesota Duluth; Sara Ojard; Rebecca L. Teasley, University of Minnesota Duluth; Emily Woster, University of Minnesota Duluth

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

students improvetheir writing while still covering normal course content. Needless to say, students struggle withtrying to meet standards they have yet to be taught or had the opportunity to practice. The writingguide is meant to help alleviate this problem by offering consistent guidance for studentsbeginning at the freshman year and continuing throughout the degree program.Simply providing the students with the writing guide, however, will most likely not be enough todrastically improve their communication skills. Faculty must also demonstrate to students theimportance of developing these skills as they relate to a successful career in engineering.6 Socalled “soft skills” such as communication, teamwork, information seeking and

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Technical Session 7

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ryan Fries P.E., Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Brad Cross P.E., Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Jianpeng Zhou, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Chad Verbais, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

stillcritical to ensure a quality final team selection19. Others have noted that the best teams havebeen made using a blend of instructor decisions and student self-selections 33.Despite differing disciplines, program sizes, and course designs, this review of industry-sponsored engineering capstone design courses reveals several key themes. First, thearrangement of student teams and the timing of industry participation can be challenging andtime-consuming. Next, students learn both hard and soft skills as a result of industry-sponsorship of these projects. Also, including multiple disciplines and countries can increasestudent learning, but may pose unique challenges as well.Previous work on Communication Skills in the Engineering CurriculumThere exists

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Technical Session 6

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven J. Burian, University of Utah; Defne S. Apul, University of Toledo

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

students.CIVE 6670/8670 at the University of Toledo is a course developed based on Fink’s taxonomy ofsignificant learning19. The course focuses on life-cycle assessment (LCA) with topics introducingLCA, describing LCA steps, different LCA types, computational LCA approaches, andapplications. Students are required to complete written assignments, make oral presentations, andundertake a team project. In the fall 2014 semester, the course had five civil engineeringstudents, two chemical engineering students, and one industrial engineering student. Therefore, itis a multidisciplinary class across engineering disciplines. The learning objectives for this coursewere written using Fink’s taxonomy and included both technical and soft skills (Table 1).Content

Conference Session

Civil Engineering Division Technical Session 7

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dan Budny P.E., University of Pittsburgh; Sina Arjmand, University of Pittsburgh; David V.P. Sanchez, University of Pittsburgh

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

based coursework adds to the students experience. Students who are involved in projects have the chance togain experience and develop their soft skills while actively engaged in hands on CivilEngineering learning. Projects can bring different learning styles into one place so that studentscan have the opportunity to learn the material to a depth that is difficult to attain in a typicalcourse. Students can develop their personal skills such as critical thinking, project managementskills, and improve self-confidence. Engineers in real world projects have to work in teams andtherefore a project based course help students to practice teamwork, and to develop effectivecommunication skills. These projects demand that the students communicate within