AC 2011-472: OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION IN A CAPSTONE SENIOR DESIGN COURSE

Numerous publications have emphasized the importance of technical communication skills in the field of engineering. Capstone Senior Design courses are typically selected to evaluate and enhance the technical communication skills of engineering students. To effectively implement technical communication into a Capstone Senior Design course, four main challenges must be overcome. The first challenge is to provide students with consistent, quality feedback. The second challenge is to overcome resource constraints to effectively implement communication instruction in the course. The third challenge is to provide students with exposure to multiple communication mediums and audiences. The fourth challenge is to develop techniques to motivate students to improve their communication skills. This paper provides the techniques used in the Valparaiso University Capstone Senior Design course to address all four of these challenges.