Towards a Transformative Collaboration: Technical Writing, Engineering, Industry

Naqaa Abbas; Mary Queen; Reza Tafreshi; Patrick Linke

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Stories, Communication, and Convergence in Engineering Education
Tagged Division: Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44508
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44508
Download Count: 166

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Paper Authors

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Naqaa Abbas Texas A&M University, Qatar

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Dr. Naqaa Abbas is Instructional Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University Qatar. She teaches first year English writing and technical communication courses.
Dr. Mary Queen is Instructional Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University Qatar. She teaches first year English writing and technical communication courses.
Dr. Reza Tafreshi is a Professor at Texas A&M University Qatar. He teaches in the program of Mechanical Engineering.
Dr. Patrick Linke is Program Chair and Professor at Texas A&M Qatar. He teaches in the program of Chemical Engineering.

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Reza Tafreshi Texas A&M University at Qatar

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Reza Tafreshi received the B.Sc. and M.Sc.
degrees from K.N. Toosi University of Technology,
Tehran, Iran, in 1991 and 1995, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 2005.
From 1995 to 1999, he was with PoloDej Company, Iran. From 1999 to 2000, he was a Research Engineer at the Department of ECE, UBC. He was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, in 2006. In 2007, he joined Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha, Qatar, where he is currently an Assistant Professor. His research interests include biomedical engineering, condition
monitoring, and machine fault diagnosis.

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Patrick Linke

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Dr. Patrick Linke is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Chair of the Chemical Engineering Program at Texas A&M University at Qatar. Dr. Linke also serves as the Executive Director of the Office of Graduate Studies. He is the holder of the Qat

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Mary Queen Texas A&M University, Qatar

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Abstract

This paper reports on a work in progress collaboration between Engineering and English faculty at Texas A&M Qatar, and examines the initial impact of the team’s reorganization of a required Technical Professional Writing course on engineering students' educational experience as they learn effective and relevant professional communication skills in the field of engineering; as they network with mentors from various industries; and as they train to be effective writers and competitive candidates in their engineering fields. While many engineering programs require several technical writing courses, our undergraduate engineering students at Texas A&M University Qatar take only ONE course in Technical Professional Communication (ENGL 210), followed by a selection of WI courses spread out in their degree plan. However, faculty still identified a continuing gap between their expectations of students’ communication skills and what students have demonstrated in classes, including upper-division and capstone courses. How can we ensure the continuity of certain writing tools and skills throughout the student’s writing journey at TAMUQ? How can we present opportunities for English and engineering faculty to share their assessments, rubrics, or other teaching tools so as to effectively support the student’s communication development? Our research group is comprised of two Engineering faculty and two English faculty (one of whom is also a Writing in the Disciplines Coordinator – WID). Through extensive meetings and discussions, sharing of assignments and students' work, and review of course objectives and assessments, our team redesigned the required ENGL 210 to focus on what engineering faculty identify as relevant aspects of writing in the field of engineering: problem statements, research and literature reviews, project proposals, progress reports, and scientific poster design, with additional focus on integrating UX design and data visualization in the students’ projects. We created assessments that more closely align with engineering faculty and industry professionals’ expectations for effective oral and written communication. We also brought industry professionals to campus to discuss topics such as the importance of clear communication in engineering workplaces and effective team collaboration. We hypothesize that the significant collaboration between English and Engineering faculty in developing assignments, providing feedback to students throughout their projects, and assessing students’ final products, as well as the partnership with various partner industries, considerably improves our students’ writing journey at TAMUQ as they learn effective and relevant professional communication skills in the field of engineering. We also discuss the steps forward to make this collaboration a model for other courses in our curriculum at our institution.

Citation
Format

Abbas, N., & Tafreshi, R., & Linke, P., & Queen, M. (2023, June), Towards a Transformative Collaboration: Technical Writing, Engineering, Industry Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44508

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - 
This paper reports on a work in progress collaboration between Engineering and English faculty at Texas A&amp;amp;M Qatar, and examines the initial impact of the team’s reorganization of a required Technical Professional Writing course on engineering students&#39; educational experience as they learn effective and relevant professional communication skills in the field of engineering; as they network with mentors from various industries; and as they train to be effective writers and competitive candidates in their engineering fields.  
 While many engineering programs require several technical writing courses, our undergraduate engineering students at Texas A&amp;amp;M University Qatar take only ONE course in Technical Professional Communication (ENGL 210), followed by a selection of WI courses spread out in their degree plan. However, faculty still identified a continuing gap between their expectations of students’ communication skills and what students have demonstrated in classes, including upper-division and capstone courses. How can we ensure the continuity of certain writing tools and skills throughout the student’s writing journey at TAMUQ? How can we present opportunities for English and engineering faculty to share their assessments, rubrics, or other teaching tools so as to effectively support the student’s communication development? 
Our research group is comprised of two Engineering faculty and two English faculty (one of whom is also a Writing in the Disciplines Coordinator – WID). Through extensive meetings and discussions, sharing of assignments and students&#39; work, and review of course objectives and assessments, our team redesigned the required ENGL 210 to focus on what engineering faculty identify as relevant aspects of writing in the field of engineering: problem statements, research and literature reviews, project proposals, progress reports, and scientific poster design, with additional focus on integrating UX design and data visualization in the students’ projects. We created assessments that more closely align with engineering faculty and industry professionals’ expectations for effective oral and written communication. We also brought industry professionals to campus to discuss topics such as the importance of clear communication in engineering workplaces and effective team collaboration.  
We hypothesize that the significant collaboration between English and Engineering faculty in developing assignments, providing feedback to students throughout their projects, and assessing students’ final products, as well as the partnership with various partner industries, considerably improves our students’ writing journey at TAMUQ as they learn effective and relevant professional communication skills in the field of engineering. We also discuss the steps forward to make this collaboration a model for other courses in our curriculum at our institution. 


 

AU  - Naqaa Abbas
AU  - Reza Tafreshi
AU  - Patrick Linke
AU  - Mary Queen
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Towards a Transformative Collaboration: Technical Writing, Engineering, Industry 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/44508
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44508
ER  -