Asee peer logo

Integrating Industrial Feedback into Role-Playing Scenarios in Laboratory Classes for Improved Technical Communication Skills Transferable to the Workplace

Download Paper |

Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

June 26, 2024

Conference Session

Joint Session: Experimentation and Laboratory-Oriented Studies Division and Chemical Division

Tagged Divisions

Experimentation and Laboratory-Oriented Studies Division (DELOS) and Chemical Engineering Division (ChED)

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--47656

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/47656

Download Count

91

Paper Authors

biography

Jennifer R Brown Montana State University, Bozeman

visit author page

Jennifer Brown is an Associate Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at Montana State University in Bozeman MT.

visit author page

biography

Stephanie G Wettstein Montana State University, Bozeman

visit author page

Stephanie Wettstein is an Associate Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. She has been the faculty advisor of the MSU SWE chapter since 2013 and is an Associate Director of the Montana Engineering Education Research Center.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Despite the immense value of effective communication skills for undergraduate students, effective integration of these skills into the engineering curriculum can be challenging. Proficient communication has been directly linked to enhance career progression, yet many engineering graduates lack this important skill. Students need to learn communication skills that are transferable to the practice of engineering yet often do not recognize the significance of the technical communications they do as an undergraduate to their future careers. As the standards and norms of effective communication in engineering depend heavily on the context of engineering practice, engineering communication is situated and rhetorical. Therefore, one way to help shift the students out of student mindset so they can begin to assume an identity in the engineering profession is through situated learning, where communication assignments are situated in the “real world” and reflect discipline specific workplace genres. Since students can see the relevance to their future careers of what they are learning, this approach can also help foster student engagement. A role-playing scenario was implemented into a senior engineering laboratory class at a land-grant institution approximately five years ago. In the role-playing experience, students are “interns” at a consulting company. Lab objectives are written as “company memos,” instructors are given management titles such as CEO and CFO, and tailored assignments target different genres of engineering technical writing. Initially changes were based on an instructor’s previous industry experience, however, the landscape of communication in engineering practice changes rapidly. In order to ensure what was being taught in the class was relevant to current practice, a survey regarding how often one uses different communication genres and the communication skills they find most important was sent to members of the Department Advisory Committee (DAC) that have a wide range of industry experience. All five DAC members responded, and several key findings were discovered. The industry representatives indicated that in terms of genres, email messages, meeting minutes, and meeting agendas were their top three used communications. Short reports (less than 3 pages) and proposals were ranked 6th and 7th, respectively, while formal reports (more than 3 pages), ranked 11th out of 16 genres. Additionally, presentation materials were ranked 4th and in a separate question regarding important communication skills, presentation skills were ranked highly with only listening skills being ranked higher. Since the course largely focused on formal written technical reports and proposals, the students were not learning genres that would benefit them most upon entering the workforce. Based on survey results, instructors incorporated meeting agendas, meeting notes, and a group presentation into the course. Additionally, based on feedback from the industry representatives, rubric constructs were revised to better reflect important industry-relevant skills. Instructors were also transparent about why assignments were given and how they were relevant to the engineering practice. Student and alumni feedback regarding communication skills has been positive and a future study will study the impact of the course on alumni’s early careers.

Brown, J. R., & Wettstein, S. G. (2024, June), Integrating Industrial Feedback into Role-Playing Scenarios in Laboratory Classes for Improved Technical Communication Skills Transferable to the Workplace Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--47656

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015