Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions III: Writing as Social–Technical Integration

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vukica M. Jovanovic, Old Dominion University; Megan McKittrick, Old Dominion University; Pilar Pazos, Old Dominion University; Daniel Richards, Old Dominion University; Julia Romberger

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

, many STEM students see writing aslargely unrelated to their career goals. Many students assume that their “writing career is nowover”5 once they move into courses in their major. Put another way, student perceptions of anengineer’s “community of practice” often do not include writing despite the common presence ofwriting in workplace “communities of practice.” Genre offers a productive way to approach thisdisconnect. Based on the Department of Labor’s definition of workforce readiness skills6, one of themost important “soft skills” is communication. This speaks to the need to resolve the disconnectbetween the perception of writing by students in upper-level undergraduate STEM courses and theskills required by them once they graduate

Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions III: Writing as Social–Technical Integration

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tatiana Teslenko, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

- Page 26.787.3professionalism, 3.1.9 - ethics and equity, and 3.1.12 - life-long learning1. These new objectivesresulted in the inclusion of the discourse on sustainability and social learning and an in-depthdiscussion of integrative skills (a.k.a. “soft” skills).The New First-Year CourseLater we developed a first-year course with a theme of sustainability, APSC 176: EngineeringCommunication. Its objectives are to provide students with research, critical thinking andadvanced communication skills necessary for success in the study and practice of globalengineering.We believe that a first-year communication course is uniquely positioned for integratingeducation on sustainability (ESD) with graduate attributes. APSC 176: EngineeringCommunication