Communications Instruction In First Year Engineering: The Glue

ENGG 251: Design and Communications One and ENGG 253: Design and Communications Two are the flagship courses for the Common Core year at The S___ School of Engineering, University of C___. Mandatory courses for all first year (~730) students, ENGG 251/253 are project-based courses on engineering design, taught by an interdisciplinary team drawn from all divisions of engineering, fine arts and communications. This paper serves to examine the role and work of the communications instructor within that interdisciplinary team, and to offer some insight into the ways that communications can be integrated into the engineering curriculum, as well as the benefits that communications brings to the instructor team. Because of the unique interdisciplinary structure of these courses, the communications instructor holds a tri-partite position as a solo instructor, a team instructor, and as the course technical writer. As a solo instructor, the communication instructor delivers 6-8 1-hour lectures per semester, on a combination of communication theory and practical writing and oral presentation material. As a team instructor, the communications instructor works to design, plan and implement at least one major project per academic year, and serves as a resource for other instructors. As well, the communications instructor is responsible for the creation of all assignment and project documents, as well as all grading/evaluation guides for the T.A.s Finally, the communications instructor acts as supervisor for the 4-6 communications T.A.s assigned to the course. As the course technical writer, the communications instructor produces all reports, manuals and documentation for the course. In addition, the communications instructor serves as co-marker on all assignment exemplars, to ensure that all T.A.s are marking to the same standard. This paper redefines the role of the communications instructor to capitalize on this many faceted skill set that, if properly integrated, can greatly enhance the quality, scope and relevance to the engineering educational coursework.