Development and Assessment of an Innovative Program to Integrate Communication Skills into Engineering Curricula

In 2005, a pilot for a campus-wide program, Communi cation across the Curriculum (CxC), was initiated in the College of Engineering with the go al f integrating communication requirements into various undergraduate curricula at Louisiana S tate University. A core element of this program was the designation of courses as Communica tion Intensive (C-I) provided they satisfied several communication-specific criteria. Foremost among the criteria were the use of informal communication to enhance learning and form al, discipline-specific communications to publicly share ideas, the use of a draft-feedback-r evision loop, and a requirement that at least 40% of the course grade be based on communication-s pecific assignments. Recognizing that these criteria could be challengin g to implement, especially in capstone and laboratory courses, program administrators develope d periodic discipline-specific workshops, an annual Faculty Summer Institute, and a professional ly staffed, discipline-specific communication studio to aid faculty development and student instr uction. These resources and how they evolved are illustrated using sample innovative com munication assignments. Faculty commitment has grown to the point that all engineer ing disciplines have certified C-I courses or labs as a part of their capstone experiences. Many disciplines have at least two and some as many as the four required courses designated C-I. Student interest was enhanced by establishing crite ria for attaining a Distinguished Communicator certification to be awarded at graduat ion and noted on the students’ transcripts. Since many of the introductory engineering courses have been designated as C-I, students soon appreciate the importance of communication skills i n their academic work and professional futures. They also become aware of the opportunity for achieving the Distinguished Communicator certification. With successful integr ation of CxC throughout the engineering curricula, it is no coincidence that engineering st udents are disproportionately represented among the Distinguished Communicators in all the discipli nes on campus. Multiple methods have been instituted to assess the uccess of this program: • An Engineering Communication Advisory Council to se mi-annually review the program objectives and provide recommendations for enhancem ents • An analysis comparing the required resource investm n against the historical reliance upon a technical writing course to develop engineer i g students’ communication skills • A survey of faculty showing that student learning o f technical content is enhanced by teaching strategies used in C-I courses • Periodic survey of students in C-I courses in whi ch responses were overwhelmingly positive These assessments, as well as their implications fo r the future development of the program, are examined and discussed in detail.