I think the two most important skills that one must have by the time they graduate and before they start a job are technical writing and presentation skills. One can definitely gain a large breadth of knowledge on their majors/fields but that might not be enough to go out and work in the real world. The traditional curriculum is all about teaching many different courses related to the subject matter but teaching “interpersonal and communication skills” have never been paid much attention. Having succeeded well with a 4.0 GPA doesn’t necessarily guarantee a successful career in life and these skills are equally valued. Hence, I would like to see courses that teach technical/academic writing and presentation skills being included as mandatory courses in the curriculum for all disciplines.
The geotechnical engineering graduate program at Virginia Tech (the program I am enrolled in) requires you to take 2 semesters of mandatory “Seminar” course. The first semester is mainly focused at teaching students technical/academic writing skills and the second semester is aimed at teaching presentation skills. Students are required to write a paper at the end of first semester and give a presentation on a free topic at the end of second semester and both of these are critically evaluated by the faculty and feedback are provided. I think not all programs have mandatory courses like this and I think the “seminar” course has been an added value to our program.
April 21, 2017 @ 11:18 am
Well said. The amount of experience in these that students receive varies significantly across the university.
My current program has two separate seminars, and each requires presentations (about 1.5-2 per year for different audiences). The presentations for one seminar are actually required for graduation (and graded as 1 credit A-F courses). My last program only required the student present their masters work, and they have since done away with that too (replacing it with poster session). They have a seminar too, but it is entirely optional, so usually 4-5 people attend and the professor has to ask people to present. I think this is a huge disservice to them. No matter what they do after graduation, they’ll be expected to communicate effectively.
April 21, 2017 @ 4:24 pm
Many students go into engineering thinking that they could escape writing and instead focus on the math and sciences – what a terrible misconception. While I agree with your post, I also think the seminars were rather lacking. The focus was largely placed on ASCE format, ethics and referencing, but never on the actual writing itself. Although writing could be practiced and developed, I really do think engineering students could greatly benefit from taking lessons from professional technical writers. The requirement for conciseness and clarity makes technical writing different and difficult. The nuances in the tenses, sentence structures and organization make a world of difference. I had a technical writing course in my undergraduate at University of Toronto that spanned over 4 months. Much needed and appreciated. I still carry those lessons with me. So perhaps it’s an unfair comparison, but I just thought the seminars didn’t do much for me. Or maybe teaching technical writing during graduate school may already be years too late.
April 21, 2017 @ 5:03 pm
But aren’t undergraduates already exposed to such-writing reports and giving presentations- throughout their studies? (whether in senior design projects for engineers or one of the mandatory english classes). Although having an intensive writing/presentation class would definitely be more beneficial, I don’t particularly think that it is the way to getting a ‘successful career’. I believe that needs a lot more preparation/development programs etc. then adding these classes.