Design principles associated with the integration of communication skills into engineering education.
Stols, Catharina Magdalena
Stols, Catharina Magdalena
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Abstract
Communication skills are seen as vital to engineering education. Integrating communication skills into engineering education could improve the relevance of the learning content students engage with, making it more practical and applicable to the field of engineering. Limited research has, however, been conducted on how communication skills could be integrated into engineering education. The focus of this study was to determine design principles to act as a set of guidelines to inform on how communication skills could be integrated into engineering education. This was accomplished by using a design-based research approach which included a qualitative research methodology. Design sessions were held with a purposively selected design team in a focus group setting. This team was exposed to a tentative design of a strategy for communication skills to be integrated into engineering education. Focus group interviews were held after each design session to obtain opinions and suggestions. A cycle of design, focus group session, and re-design was undertaken until no substantial changes could be made to the design. An activity system was used as a descriptive framework to articulate the findings. A constant comparative analysis of data was used to formulate the design principles from three identified main clusters. These design principles included elements influencing an integrated learning context, key role players involved in the integration process, and curriculum design elements.
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Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Technologiae: Language Practice in the Department of Applied Languages Faculty of Humanities Tshwane University of Technology.
Date
2016-04-01
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Tshwane University of Technology
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Keywords
Communication Skills, Engineering Education, Design-based Research, Activity System, Design Principles, Activity Theory