An IEEE society dedicated to understanding and promoting effective communication in engineering, scientific, and other technical environments
In my role as president of PCS, I was invited to participate in the first World Congress on Engineering Education, sponsored by Texas A&M University at Qatar and the Maersk Oil Company. The event brought together engineering educators, industry representatives, and members of government for three days of workshops, sessions, and vibrant … [Read more...]
On Friday, I gave the first of two talks at Shibaura Institute of Technology, entitled "Institutional Research and Educational Assessment at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology: Creating a Culture of Evidence." Faculty and staff involved in SIT's Global Initiative were there, along with faculty involved with SIT's new electronic portfolio … [Read more...]
Check out the latest Prism magazine, published by the American Society for Engineering Education, to read more about how engineering educators are helping students improve their written and oral communication skills. Thomas K. Grose, in an article entitled "Wow The Audience," reviews efforts at North Carolina State University, Texas Tech, … [Read more...]
Educators are searching for tools that can help them assess and evaluate their students' achievement of defined learning outcomes in fields as diverse as engineering, business, health professions, math, science and technology (to name a few). These assessments and evaluations are part of a national trend toward transparency and accountability … [Read more...]
Wow, yesterday was a full and fun day! We wrapped up Day 1 with a keynote by Kirk St. Amant, who will be receiving the Blicq Award for Distinction in Technical Communication at tonight's Award Reception. Ron Blicq is here and will be giving the award to Kirk, quite a legacy of PCS history! Today's sessions were quite various, but here are … [Read more...]
As Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, gain in popularity and media attention, it seems that the course format--featuring 1 instructor and many thousands of students--may not provide a good environment for helping students with their writing. As Steve Kolowich reports in the August 30, 2012 issue of Inside Higher Education, students enrolled in … [Read more...]
Brenda Huettner provides us with the basics for making our web sites accessible in this training podcast. Huettner is an STC Fellow, a Senior IEEE Member, and the author of a number of informative books, including most recently Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools. [Script Available] … [Read more...]
What's the best way to compose an effective e-mail? Listen as George Hayhoe, an award-winning senior IEEE member and fellow of the Society for Technical Communication, offers six valuable tips in this first ever PCS Training Podcast. After listening to George's podcast, you'll know who to target with your email, how long it should be, and what … [Read more...]
This training podcast provides examples as well as explanations and tips for dealing with a few grammar or usage problems that occur for many engineering and technical professionals who have to communicate in a hurry, via, for example, email. Listen for ways to know when to use can or may, affect or effect, it's or its, and also me, myself, or I. … [Read more...]
Jon Scharer introduces us to Communities of Practice (CoP) in this podcast. Communities of Practice, both for management and practitioners, have, for a variety of reasons, become more valued of late in the workplace. Listen as Scharer highlights two key factors necessary for ensuring the establishment and maintenance of an effective CoP. … [Read more...]
