Teaching Communication in Capstone Design: The Role of the Instructor in Situated Learning

Calls for engineers to communicate more effectively are ubiquitous, and engineering education literature includes numerous examples of assignments and courses that integrate writing and speaking with technical content. However, little of this literature examines in detail how engineering students de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of engineering education (Washington, D.C.) Vol. 97; no. 4; pp. 491 - 503
Main Author Paretti, Marie C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2008
Subjects
Case studies
communication
Curriculum Design
Engineering Education
Engineering research
Gantt charts
Learning
Public opinion
situated learning
Student Development
Students
Teaching Methods
writing
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Summary:Calls for engineers to communicate more effectively are ubiquitous, and engineering education literature includes numerous examples of assignments and courses that integrate writing and speaking with technical content. However, little of this literature examines in detail how engineering students develop communication skills and how those learning mechanisms influence classroom practice. To address this gap, this article synthesizes research on communication learning in college from the fields of composition and technical communication and illustrates its relevance to the engineering classroom with a case study of a capstone design course. The principles of situated learning and activity theory, in particular, provide strong evidence that the ways in which course instructors and students interact around communication tasks play a significant role in helping students develop transferable communication skills.
Bibliography:istex:C01BF56453FCEE6190BE8CD32CD978E844B69A20
ark:/67375/WNG-PPHP2TPJ-9
ArticleID:JEE995
Marie C. Paretti is an assistant professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, where she co‐directs the Virginia Tech Engineering Communication Center (VTECC). She has a background in both chemical engineering and English. Her research examines engineering communication in both industry and academic contexts, with a focus on pedagogy and student learning. Her recent work includes studies of communication practices in interdisciplinary, cross‐cultural, and virtual student design teams. She was recently awarded a CAREER grant from NSF to study teaching practices in design education.
ISSN:1069-4730
2168-9830
DOI:10.1002/j.2168-9830.2008.tb00995.x