The Evolution Of An Advanced Communication Skills Course

With industry leaders constantly citing the need for and importance of effective communication skills, educators must ensure our engineering curriculum does meet this end. Is a single, mandatory public speaking course sufficient to prepare students for the expectations and demands of the workplace? Is the traditional speech course, with speeches typically delivered from behind a podium, an adequate preparation for the communication requirements of the professional engineer? An effective alternative is to use the basic speech course as a prerequisite for an advanced, upper level communication skills course. This upper level course focuses on effective communication practices with the expectations of a technical audience and setting. The course is taught by a team of technical communication and architectural engineering faculty and coordinated with a capstone design course. Students are organized into small groups to present to their technical design solutions in a setting that attempts to simulate professional/client interaction.