An Experiment in Integrating and Engineering Communication Toolkit into the Industrial Engineering Curriculum

The objective of this project is to develop an engineering communication toolkit as a reference guide for industrial engineering students at Montana State University.

The ability to communicate technical information, both verbally and in writing, is a fundamental and necessary skill for engineers of all disciplines and in all types of engineering careers. In a recent survey, engineers cited technical writing and public speaking as two of the top five most important skills needed to do their job effectively. However, engineering institutes typically offer technical communication courses as electives outside of the required engineering curriculum. As a result, many technically competent engineers lack effective communication abilities when entering the work force. This project seeks to provide engineering students at Montana State University with a learning aid and reference guide in the form of an engineering communication toolkit. The emphasis of this toolkit will be specifically on the importance of listening effectively as well as communicating convincingly through oral, visual, and written mechanisms. This aid will be integrated into a freshman-level Industrial Engineering course and further implemented and referenced through each subsequent academic year.