Professional and Technical Communications for ECE

(0-2-0-1)

CMPE Degree: This course is Required for the CMPE degree.

EE Degree: This course is Required for the EE degree.

Lab Hours: 0 supervised lab hours and 0 unsupervised lab hours.

Technical Interest Groups / Course Categories: CMPE Common Core, EE Common Core

Course Coordinator: Christina M Bourgeois

Prerequisites: ECE 1100 [min S] and ECE 2031 [min C]

Catalog Description

Written, oral, and visual communication skills required by electrical and computer engineers. Prepares students for advanced communication tasks required in academic and professional settings.

Textbook(s)

Course Outcomes

Recognize and employ the basic conventions of technical and professional writing and the discipline-specific features of engineering documents. 

Identify structure, organization, and content of common engineering documents: proposals, technical reports, instruction guides, design reports, resumes.

Work individually to write documents with audience-appropriate content and proper formatting, spelling, punctuation, grammar, and usage. 

Integrate text and visuals to clearly convey complex technical information. 

Revise documents and presentation materials (such as slides and posters) for content, organization, and writing style. 

Work individually and in teams to develop and deliver audience-appropriate presentations with significant technical content using presentation software.

Provide feedback to peers on their writing and speaking and teamwork abilities.

Strategic Performance Indicators (SPIs)

N/A

Topic List

  1. Communication: The X-Factor
    1. The role of communication in engineering
    2. Engineers as writers
  2. Career Exploration, Planning, and Preparation
    1. Writing employer-focused, results-driven resumes
    2. Navigating the job search process
    3. Preparing elevator pitches
  3. Technical and Professional Documentation
    1. Conventions and standards of engineering writing
    2. Document structure, formatting, and content
    3. Applying  "Design Thinking" to writing
    4. Viewing communication in terms of problem framing and problem solving
    5. Identifying need/purpose for communicating
    6. Understanding the end-user (audience)
    7. Prototyping documentation deliverables
    8. Technical writing style and mechanics
    9. User-testing documents and the revision/editing process
    10. Producing relevant, user-focused, results-oriented documents for the public domain
  4. Technical and Professional Presentations
    1. Presentation types: 3MT, TED talks, Pecha Kucha
    2. Presentation software tools
    3. Identifying and articulating the message of a presentation
    4. Developing content to meet the needs and expectations of the audience
    5. Effectively and strategically using visuals, graphics, images, tables, diagrams, charts
    6. Transforming raw data and interpreting results to emphasize impact and significance
    7. Presentation delivery: eye contact, voice projection, pace, body language, attire