EVAN LERNER

As a communications teacher, my primary goal is to help students say what they mean. In practice, this involves instruction on the mechanics of language, but more important is developing a deeper appreciation for the cognition that precedes it. One of the animating ideas in my courses is that writing is a form of thinking.

Classroom Objectives

My course, ECE 30303 “Technical Writing and Communication for Engineers,” begins with the declaration of three objectives:

1. Understand the principles and purpose of effective communication.
2. Learn techniques for organizing your ideas into a clear, cohesive message.
3. Gain experience tailoring your message to the audience you are trying to reach.

The sequencing of these objectives is designed to be accessible to students with a range of experiences with previous writing courses. I’ve found that engineering students are sometimes skeptical of such courses; the more objective language of math and science is, to them, intrinsically superior to the “squishier” world of words, sentences, and paragraphs. It is therefore imperative to demonstrate the value of qualitative communication. I achieve this, in part, through real-world reading examples that demonstrate how seemingly small changes in word choice can have outsized impact on the overall meaning of a piece of communication. Students also complete weekly homework assignments where they find their own examples of technical communication and lead classroom discussions on them.

As students become more thoughtful readers, they become more attuned to the relationship between language’s form and function. This is where I encourage students to see sentences and paragraphs as complex machines for delivering information. By identifying the key actors and motivations in the scenario they’re trying to describe, they are better able to map them onto the subjects, verbs, and objects of the sentences they’re writing. I take a similarly systematic approach as students move from sentences to paragraphs, with a series of templates they can scaffold their ideas on.

This stepwise approach builds over the course of the semester, culminating with the students’ final projects. Research and teamwork skills are paramount at this point, as small groups must make presentations on how a chosen technology can solve a social problem. Lessons on rhetoric extend the machine metaphor; with a persuasive goal in mind, students can better connect the language they use to an audience’s needs.