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Communication Skills

Engineers use communication skills to explain an idea, process, or technical design. They use written, oral, computers, graphics, and other engineering tools to communicate to other engineers and management.

Written communication includes technical writing of journal, texts, and other informational material. It includes specific, to-the-point details about a topic of mastery by the author. Other engineers use these texts for continued research and development because the knowledge gained by one engineer has been communicated to others.

Oral Communication includes the delivery of presentations, explaining a design or design process and many other details that improve meeting coordination and team development.

Graphical communication utilizes the visual senses and allows for the engineer to explain an idea without using detailed written reports and oral communication. Graphics is an extensive discipline that encompasses a large range of topics from rough preliminary sketches to detailed computer AutoCAD pictorials. Graphical and visual communication is crucial to all stages of the design process.

The ENGR111/112 curriculum stresses communication skills by allowing for team interactions of homework, quizzes, and design projects. The design projects require written communication of preliminary and final reports and also graphical sketches of the design. An oral presentation of the problem, design process, and results of the design process is also a required part of the communication curriculum (See Design Project).