Throughout his entire course, ENG 2003: Effective Engineering Communication, we have completed 7 assignments, and over 10 tutorial activities, all for the purpose of further developing our skills as an effective communicator. But at one point we should reflect on why? Why do we need to be able to communicate effectively if as Engineers, our job is to solve problems? Well, solving problems is only part of the job, as a huge portion of our lives we will have to communicate those solutions in the form of proposals and convince potential employers and company contracts to use our ideas. The art of rhetoric is not one that is easy to master, but is crucial in the world of engineering. Not only this, but on a day to day basis, furthering our education in different fields of engineering, we must write lab reports, write assignment papers, give presentations, and communicate with co-op employers and esteemed TAs and professors. How can we do this effectively if we don’t have the skill set in professional communication?
This is why this course allows us to explore our strengths and weaknesses in an aspect of life that is not touched upon and looked at from this perspective very much at all. We all will graduate with a degree in our hands at some point in our lives (hopefully), but what will help to define and differentiate us is the networks we build and the communication skills we develop to apply in the real world. Before this course had begun, I came in with a goal to improve my oral presentation skills, and apply them to my other courses and I was successfully able to use the different axioms of communication to do just that. The practice and experience I retained in ENG 2003 allowed me to give effective presentations in CIVL 2000: Design Project and ENG 2240: Intro to Environmental Engineering final presentation.
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| Team communication/brainstorming |
Not only oral presentations but I was also able to improve upon my writing abilities through the implementation of the 7 C’s and the levels of edit. Through tackling these different levels of edits at different points of my writing and at different times, I was able to proofread my work to its best, and catch mistakes and inconsistencies that I would have not caught before. I am now also asking myself reflective style questions in my writing such as: “Have I put myself in my reader’s shoes?” and “Is my main point obvious?”. This has allowed me to follow the steps in reading for credibility, reading for the reader, as well as reading for message quality and effectiveness. The 7 C’s: Completeness, Conciseness, Clarity, Coherence, Correctness, Courtesy, and Creditability have been a great asset in making my written work well structured and flow smoothly.
I have improved a great deal from the beginning of this course, until now, and it can be clearly seen in my assignments, tutorial work, as well as in my other courses when compared with my work from the beginning of the semester. There were times that were frustrating, such as Assignment #5 and the difficulties in recording only your hands while simultaneously trying to teach a lesson concisely without giving up substance. That was challenging but rewarding once accomplished. Every oral presentation made me nervous and gave me quite the anxiety beforehand, but the more time I spent in the spotlight, the more comfortable I became. There are always going to be things to improve and ways to become an effective communicator, especially in the use of rhetoric, however, through this course I have only increased my efficiency and effectiveness and it will only continue to go up through the application of what I’ve learned in this course to future courses and endeavors. This is what this course teaches us, to reflect on the strengths in our communication and recognize the weaknesses so that we may turn them into strengths.
Even at this very moment I am communicating to you, my reader, through this website, through this article, through my paragraphs, through my sentences, and through these carefully chosen words. Overall, this course kept me busy, but it was worth it as I have learned a great deal about myself as a communicator, an aspiring engineer, and as a person.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to appreciate the TAs of this course: Ms. Parin Izadi & Mr. Reza Araghi, who spend a lot of their time working with us in tutorials as well as marking our work to give us feedback to keep improving with each passing assignment. Thank you. Thank you to Dr. Ryley Beddoe as this course would not be possible (or at least not as awesome) without her.
I can proudly say that I have retained a new perspective and outlook on why and how you communicate is so important. Without communicating effectively, an engineer closes many doors and cannot progress in this world that is becoming more and more connected through globalization and the everlasting power of communication.
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| Globalization of the World through Interconnected Lines of Communication |
