Making Communication Matter: Integrating Instruction, Projects and Assignments to Teach Writing and Design
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman-College Senior |
| Discipline(s): |
English and Technical Writing |
| Special Topic(s): | |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Reference - Educational Research Paper |
| Media Type: |
Unknown |
| Author(s): |
Eric Constans Jennifer Courtney Kevin Dahm Paris von Lockette Roberta Harvey William T. Riddell |
| Description: | An integrated technical writing and design course has been developed at Rowan University. This course was developed using aspects of project-based learning and recent discussions about design education, as well as pedagogical approaches from the write-to-learn and the writing in the disciplines (WID) movements. The result is a course where the writing and design instruction are highly integrated, resulting in improvements in both technical writing and engineering design. [Volume 2, Number 2] |
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| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | technical writing design project based learning |
| Is Component of: |
Advances in Engineering Education - Summer 2010 - Volume 2 - Issue 2 |
| Usage Tip | |
| Related ABET Criteria: |
Academic Achievement Written Communication Skills |
| Intervention(s): |
Learning styles |
| Use of Resource: |
Conclusion The faculty at Rowan have adopted a model for teaching communication and design in an in- tegrated manner. students are presented with the concepts and vocabulary to understand their designing, and then asked to discuss their designing in written reports. in this sense, writing informs design instruction as much as design informs the writing instruction. furthermore, the design projects are chosen such that they increase in complexity and duration, allowing students to master certain design skills before moving on to other skills. While this approach has been challenging to implement and deliver, students benefit from such an approach both in terms of their engineering knowledge and in their rhetorical sophistication. While some aspects of the approach might depend on the Rowan university College of engineering curriculum, elements of it can be incorporated into diverse curricula, we believe, with good results. as workplace demands and educational practices evolve, an integrated approach that reflects real- world practice and accreditation realities provides instructional flexibility that prepares students to succeed in fast-changing, communication- rich environments. |
| Difficulty: |
Medium |
| Interactivity Level: |
Very low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | August 2011 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Not free |
| Download URL: | http://advances.asee.org/vol02/issue02/03.cfm |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
Advances in Engineering Education
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