Opportunities To Teach Teamwork, Collaboration, And Interpersonal Communications In Mechanical Engineering Technology Courses

Employers of Engineering Technology graduates look for experience working together in teams, ability to collaborate on projects and the ability to effectively communicate technical matter in both oral and written forms. Opportunities to expose the students to these areas abound in the six associate degree MET courses taught by the author. Three of these courses have labs where the limitations of space and equipment force the students to work in teams and to engage in interteam cooperation. Two courses have problem solving sessions which give the students experience in sharing solutions of technical problems and practice in presenting their findings both in writing and orally. The sixth course presents the opportunity to collaborate doing a feasibility study of a project and then writing a formal report of the semester long project. This paper details how these activities are accomplished.