Abstract

Since communication and design are two of the most important aspects of engineering practice, a model for an integrated technical writing and design course is proposed. The emphasis was placed on the method used to develop this Engineering and Design course in the context of the new curriculum at the University of Windsor, which follows the same procedure as the engineering design process: needs assessment, problem formulation, abstraction and synthesis, analysis, and implementation. This approach proved to be successful considering the fact that communication and design are not only difficult for faculty to teach and assess in the case of large classes, but also difficult for first year students to master - considering the fact that there are no prerequisites for this activity. As a result, this study shows how to best integrate design and communication, considering the fact that both are open ended problems. It also explains the benefits of this new approach from students’ perspective. The intent is not only to explain how this method was used to design the new course, but also to demonstrate that this design process is not restricted to find solutions for engineering problems only, but also when the goal is to seek the best solution from among many alternatives.