Communicating Like Engineers:Using WAC to Improve

Technical Students’ Writing and Thinking

Faculty of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana

Communicating Like Engineers Context: RHIT and Engineering

Communication Across the Curriculum Short presentations: assignment

development, procedure, student reactions, assessment, plans for revision

Discussion and questions

Presenters Ed Wheeler, Electrical

and Computer Engineering

Wayne Padgett, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Anneliese Watt, Humanities and Social Sciences

Richard Layton, Mechanical Engineering

Patsy Brackin, Mechanical Engineering

Julia Williams, Humanities and Social Sciences

Context for Engineering Communication Across

the Curriculum

Julia Williams, HSS

What is WAC? Bi-annual conference Bloomington, Indiana Focuses on Writing Across the Curriculum

efforts National representation Engineers, scientists, mathematicians

participating

Engineering Communication Needs:

• Engineers who think, design, and communicate• Accreditation demands: student learning• Industrial demands: professional engineering

practice• Writing as learning tool: enhanced technical

proficiency and communication ability

Engineering Communication Constraints:

• Crowded engineering curriculum• Writing not integrated with technical content• Student attitudes: more work• Faculty attitudes: more work

Site for exchange and collaboration• Technical faculty• Technical communication faculty

EE 206 Elements of Electrical Engineering:

Writing on a Technical Topic, Guided Peer Review

Ed Wheeler, ECE

Not communicating effectively, particularly in writing, remains the greatest shortcoming of most engineers today.

Norman Augustine, Former Chair and CEO of Martin Marietta Corporation

"By the time I leave office, I want engineering to do a better job of supplying information on which public policy can be based.”

William Wolf, National Academy of Engineering

Paper Assignment for EE 206

Assignment• Initial topic choice

• Peer-revision

• Final draft

Two options for students• Technical or peer audience

• General audience

Technical or Peer Audience Paper assignment

• Write a paper on one or two specific uses of transducers in measurement & control in your discipline.

Objectives• Demonstrate independent learning of new technical

material

• Use of effective graphics where appropriate

General Audience Paper assignment

• Write a paper on some topic partly or wholly within your discipline. Consider your audience to be comprised of generally well informed members of the general public.

Objectives• Accommodate varied audience

• Learn that doing this well is difficult

• Appreciate that the goal is not to “dumb down”

Observations and Outcomes Successful assignment

• Many excellent papers

• Interesting and fun to read

• Students engaged in process

Peer-evaluation forms Burden not too heavy

EC 380 Discrete Time and Continuous Systems:

Literature Search and Oral Report

Wayne Padgett, ECE

Writing in Engineering Courses

- author may wish to remain anonymous

EC380 Course RequirementsEC 380 Discrete Time and Continuous

Systems 4R-0L-4C W, S Pre: EC 300

System properties applied to discrete-time and continuous systems. The z-transform, FIR and IIR filters. Convolution and the Fourier transform in continuous and discrete-time systems. Literature search and oral report.

Traditional Approach Student chooses technical topic Student researches topic (literature search) Student documents research (formal report) Student presents research (oral

presentation) Professor grades report and presentation

Traditional Disadvantages Research is unstructured, sometimes

ineffective Large number of topics Report grading is time-intensive Presentations use large amount of class time Other course assignments may be redundant Students sometimes re-use topics, papers

Alternative Approach Student reads pre-selected articles (one

topic), reads 1 self-selected paper (new topic)

Student analyzes papers for technical level and intended audience

Students research a topic in pairs and give oral presentation

Professor grades analysis and report

Alternative Advantages Student receives specific guidance on

research technique Writing assignment is shorter, and research-

skill oriented Research requirement is less intense, fewer

presentations

Alternative Disadvantages Less depth in research Students still want to re-use topics Some students still find the assignment

redundant Professor schedules assignment timing

instead of student (more structured)

RH 330 Technical Communication:Audience Analysis and

Accommodation

Anneliese Watt, HSS

Audience Analysis in Tech Comm:What We Want--Writing

Students should be able to:• Define their audience• Describe the relevant characteristics of that

audience• Craft a document that adequately

accommodates that audience. Audience Analysis Worksheet (handout)

Audience Analysis in Tech Comm:What We Want--Reading

Students should:• Consider the forum within which the document

is distributed, read, and/or published• Understand who constitutes the target primary

and secondary readers. They should then ask how the above may

have affected the presentation and reception of the material.

Common Student Complaint:

“I don’t understand the article I’m reading.” Why?--you may not be the audience. In doing research for a technical report,

students need to be reminded to consider the audience for the article they are reading, and how that affects the presentation of the material.

They also need to be encouraged to pursue material from a variety of forums.

Example: DVD Articles Handout: DVD articles

• Epinions.com• Scientific American “Ask the Experts” (2

articles)• IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics.

Common topic Differences in audience and purpose Drastically different in strategies of

language, organization, tone, etc.

Regarding DVD Articles, Students Are Asked:

What readers are targeted by this publication?

What can the document tell us about the audience it is intended for?

What elements of the document reflect reader accommodation?

Tech Com Assignment Summary Audience analysis worksheet

• Students analyze their reading• Students prepare for their own writing.

DVD articles as a 1-2 day assignment• Students become more effective researchers

and readers of technical info• Students more successfully accommodate their

own audiences.

ME 406 Control Systems:Laboratory Report

Richard Layton, ME

Writing? In a technical course? Basic needs

• Critical thought about class-related work• Technical coherence in reporting

To meet these needs• Open-ended problems• Writing, writing, writing, writi…

Course attributes ME406 Control Systems, Fall 00

• 61 seniors in 17 teams in 2 sections• Lecture + lab + design• “Jigsaw” structure for lab instruction

Writing assignments by teams• 3 or 4 students per team• Heterogeneous, instructor-assigned• Peer-ratings to address hitchhiking

Team writing assignmentsAssignment

Lab report Revise outline,

in-class Oral presentation

of outline Revised report

Feedback Graded w/ marginal notes Focused mini-lectures on

technical errors/omissions Active listening and

student critique Graded w/ general

comments

Writing goals Report results of lab or design problem

• Many paths to a satisfactory outcome• Discussion, implication, inferences

More than just reporting• Why these deliverables?• Vertical synthesis

Coherence, coherence, coherence

Issues Team writing and editing

• Team commitment• Coherence

Clarity of expectations• “Open-ended” shouldn’t mean “obscure”• Timeline given in advance

Motivate the writing

Mechanical Engineering 450/460/470

Machine Design:Professional Writing Practice

Patsy Brackin, ME

What is Senior Design? Mechanical Engineering 450/460/470 Machine Design Traditional machine design concepts:

fatigue, buckling, use of machine components, etc.

Design project with an industrial sponsor: Sagian, Union Hospital, Neoteric, Caterpillar

Writing Components of ME 460 Team meetings: Agenda and Minutes Weekly progress report memos to instructor Logbook Final design report

Areas for Improvement Logbooks:

• Poor documentation.• Students have difficulty reflecting on their learning.

Design Reports• Inappropriate level of abstraction: either too general or

too detailed• Students ignore guidelines: omit required sections, leave

out supporting materials, etc.• Students don’t believe they should be explicit and direct

about their project: reluctant to answer the question, what is the problem?

Communicating Like Engineers:Using WAC to Improve

Technical Students’ Writing and Thinking

Faculty of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana

Communicating Like Engineers Context: RHIT and Engineering

Communication Across the Curriculum Short presentations: assignment

development, procedure, student reactions, assessment, plans for revision

Discussion and questions

Website for Handouts

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~williaj/wac2001