Both ENG 331, Communication for Engineering and Technology, and ISE 498, Industrial Engineering Senior Design Project, have been established and well-attended courses on campus for many years. This semester, however, students in each class will get to spend time being taught by someone new in an attempt to enrich the communication skills of engineering students.
Ana Vila-Parrish, director of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Fitts Department, spends her time with engineering seniors teaching a capstone design course. In this course, her students create projects and present them using the skills they have learned throughout previous required courses, one of which being Sarah Egan Warren’s Communication for Engineering and Technology class.
“We were introduced by a mutual friend and both had an interest in enriching students’ educations by providing them with better communication skills,” Vila-Parish said. “We decided to swap time in each others’ courses so that I could add to the technical aspect of her English class, and she could help with the communication part of my engineering course.”
Both Warren and Vila-Parrish will be able to spend some time in each others’ classrooms and help students enrich their education experience by getting commentary from both professors.
Warren, an assistant professor and senior lecturer in the English department, feels it is imperative for students to reinforce the knowledge they receive in class.
“A lot of students do great in my class,” Warren said. “They get good grades, participate, and end on a solid note, and then they don’t end up utilizing the knowledge.”
In these revamped course arrangements, Vila-Parrish will spend time in Warren’s class and comment on the technical aspects of the English course, ensuring that the students’ work in communication will also be technically accurate. Likewise, Warren will view the presentations in Vila-Parrish’s class and give feedback on students’ communicating skills.
“I’ll enhance what she does, and encourage why students need communications training while she enhances what I’m teaching and adds validity to the technical aspects I’m less qualified to comment on,” said Warren.
While both courses are listed in the registry just as they always have been, students will notice the addition of another professor on their syllabi.
“I spent time working for DELL and did a lot of global communication. Students really need to be taught how to formally and informally communicate in their fields. It’s something that may not have been cultivated,” Vila-Parrish said.
Andrew Dale, senior in international studies, says that the course sounds like a good idea.
“It sounds really cool. The concept of cross training seems like it would be useful in a lot of fields,” Dale said.
As both courses just had their first class meetings, both Warren and Vila-Parrish are excited and have high hopes.
“What we do is not isolated,” Warren said. “Each class a student takes applies to something, but a lot of times that knowledge gets lost somewhere.”
By integrating their knowledge in each other’s courses, both professors hope to set an important precedent in the teaching industry. While they are mindful of staying true to their course’s purposes, Warren and Vila-Parrish are focused on enriching their classes and making sure students leave with skills they need.