Effective Communication

Effective written and oral communication skills have long been viewed as core competencies for undergraduate students in major universities in the world, and they are required by employers in today’s globalized workplace. Specific communication skills required of engineering undergraduates include the ability to present academic and technical information both in writing and orally to technical and non-technical audiences.

This module aims to help students develop such abilities through academic essay writing, technical report writing, reflective writing, oral presenting and other learning activities.  SIE2016 also adopts a process-based, reading-into-writing approach so that students have the chance to learn/unlearn/relearn from the multiple drafting experience of each writing assignment.  For the principle content focus of the course, a project-based approach is used that requires teams of students to explore authentic engineering problems and develop viable solutions within real-world contexts. Within the module, they are required to read discipline-specific articles, do writing assignments and a project with an engineering focus, and interview engineers or related experts, thus facilitating greater acquaintance with the field.

The topics covered in this module include:

• To adjust style and tone when communicating different types of information to different audiences for a particular purpose
• To recognize the language features and conventions of academic and technical texts and employ these in their own writing and speaking
• To develop a thesis, problem and purpose statements and support such statements with evidence
• To develop orally and in writing effective paraphrases and summaries for a specific purpose
• To identify and think critically about complex problems, formulate solutions and present these orally and in writing
• To analyse, synthesize and interpret information from various sources for specific purposes
• To cite sources correctly using APA citation style, showing academic integrity
• To revise their writing for clarity, conciseness, coherence, and fallacies in logic
• To give constructive criticism and feedback to peers
• To monitor their own progress through reflection while identifying strengths and weaknesses.