The ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important skills for engineering students to develop during their undergraduate education[1]. Undergraduate engineering
programs across the country are developing their students’ communication skills through novel
approaches[2]. This paper examines the implementation and effectiveness of a unique communication intervention which aims to develop engineering presentation skills through a series of brief, video-recorded presentations. The participants were 11 students who participated in an NSF-funded summer research experience for undergraduates (REU) program. Students were asked to give a video-recorded presentation to the group in which they described their summer research project in three minutes or less on four occasions throughout the semester. After the presentation, students watched their recordings and evaluated themselves based on several dimensions of communication effectiveness. Student self-evaluation scores showed significant improvement over the course of the program (2(3)=16.860, p=.001). Students also rated themselves on the Scientific Communication Self-Efficacy Rating Scale[3] (SCSERS) on the first and last day of the program. The mean score on the SCSERS increased from pre- to post-evaluation. Qualitative student feedback is included for context. Strengths and challenges of the intervention design and implementation are discussed, as well as insights for future study.
References [1] “ABET Accreditation,” Accreditation Board of Engineering Technology, 2000. [Online]. Available: http://www.abet.org/. [Accessed: 25-Apr-2016]. [2] J. Williams, C. Carvill, R. House, J. Livingston, and A. Watt, “Grandest Challenge: Models for Communication Development in Technical Contexts,” Am. Soc. Eng. Educ., Jun. 2014. [3] C. B. Anderson, H. Y. Lee, A. Byars-Winston, C. D. Baldwin, C. Cameron, and S. Chang, “Assessment of Scientific Communication Self-efficacy, Interest, and Outcome Expectations
for Career Development in Academic Medicine,” J. Career Assess., vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 182–
196, Feb. 2016.
Stephanie Young is a doctoral student in educational psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on educational pathways to STEM careers, underrepresented minorities and females in STEM, and psychosocial influences on STEM learning. In her time at the University of Texas, she has worked with the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Biomedical Engineering on undergraduate student education initiatives. She draws on her experiences in technical recruiting and mathematics education to influence her research. Stephanie holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a master's in educational psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.
Margo Cousins oversees undergraduate and graduate academic advising at the Department Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. She directs the office in strategic academic and professional development advising, capstone projects program, research experiences for undergraduates, first-year interest groups, and other special programs.
Dr. Mia K. Markey is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professorship in Engineering #1 at The University of Texas at Austin as well as Adjunct Professor of Imaging Physics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Markey is a 1994 graduate of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. She has a B.S. in computational biology (Carnegie Mellon, 1998). Dr. Markey earned her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering (2002), along with a certificate in bioinformatics, from Duke University. Dr. Markey has been recognized for excellence in research and teaching with awards from organizations such as the American Medical Informatics Association, the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Cancer Society, and the Society for Women’s Health Research. She is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and is a Senior Member of both the IEEE and the SPIE.
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