Instructor: Dr. Andrea Jonahs, ajonahs@uwaterloo.ca
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 4:30-5:30pm on MS Teams and by appointment.
Teaching Assistant (TA): Lara El Mekkawi, lelmekka@uwaterloo.ca
. Meetings by appointment.
Delivery Type: Online and asynchronous
Course description
In this course, you will develop written and oral communication competencies in contexts relevant to your future career in the engineering field. You will be introduced to norms, expectations, and best practices for communicating professionally in technical fields. This course emphasizes communication design as an iterative process, which is negotiated through careful consideration of agency, audience, and constraints. Throughout the term, you will practice genres of communication for audiences that might include employers, clients, peer groups, technical staff, public audiences, and policy-focused stakeholders. You will be encouraged to add your voice to the conversations taking place in the field of engineering and to reflect on how your identity and values can meaningfully shape these conversations. Ultimately, this course will enhance your critical thinking skills, creative competencies, and build your confidence as a communicator and professional.
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- describe and apply conventions, genres, norms, and values of communication in an engineering discipline and in an engineering-related co-op context;
- compose persuasive technical arguments, appealing to internal and external audiences, including employers, peers, non-technical clients, and others;
- analyze and understand technical arguments and summarize documents in clear and concise ways;
- appraise and reflect on your compositions and that of your peers to strategically revise and edit documents and presentations; and
- reflect on your ability to foster social good, create a better future, and make decisions in your communication that can transform the communities to which you belong.
Required Text & Technology
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Territorial ACKNOWLEDGMENT
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Map source: Adam Lewis, “Living on Stolen Land,” Alternatives Journal December 2015 |
As part of the University of Waterloo community, we acknowledge that we occupy the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometers on each side of the Grand River. For more information, see Six Nations Lands & Resources website. As part of a commitment to reconciliation and anti-racism, this course takes steps to help students better understand how the field of engineering can better support Indigenous peoples (e.g., Engineering Canada resource.) |
course Assessements & descriptions
The following table provides brief descriptions of course activities and assignments. Please consult the assignment guidelines for specific requirements and grading rubrics.
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Assessments |
Weight % |
Length |
Due |
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Weekly Low-stakes Activities: Weekly activities are meant to prepare you for major assignments (e.g., worksheets, quizzes, discussion posts, surveys). These activities are graded lightly, focusing on completion over correctness. |
30 |
Most Fridays |
|
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Written Report: Your formal report will be on an engineering topic of social impact. This report develops your researching skills, your ability to communicate effectively in a specific genre, and your understanding of the social impacts of engineering. Scaffolded elements help you engage in writing as a process. Your instructor/TA must see a draft of your report by Oct. 20th or you will receive a 50% penalty on your final report grade. Topics must be approved. |
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! Draft of written report |
1 |
min. 1000 words |
Wednesday, Oct. 20 |
|
! Peer feedback on draft (x2) |
2 |
min. 500 words |
Friday, Oct. 22 |
|
! Formal Report (Final) |
25 |
2000-2500 words |
Friday. Oct. 29 |
|
Oral Presentation on Written Report: You will deliver an oral presentation based on your written report. This assignment allows you to practice principles of effective oral communication and develops your ability to adapt content towards a different genre and purpose. Your presentation will be video recorded through Bongo (LEARN) and peer reviewed. |
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! Trial run of oral presentation |
1 |
Friday, Nov. 5 |
|
|
! Peer feedback on oral presentation (x2) |
2 |
Min. 500 words |
Monday, Nov. 8 |
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! Oral Presentation (Final) |
15 |
5-6 mins |
Friday, Nov. 12 |
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NEM Proposal (group project): For this assignment, your group will submit a written proposal for a project informed by the goals of National Engineering Month (NEM). Your proposal must include a process or mechanical description that explains the technical/scientific principles of your proposed project (included in the appendix). This assignment allows you to practice applying genre convention and audience sensitive communication while developing your teamwork skills. Optional: Your group may adapt your community project proposal from CIVE 104. |
14 |
1000-1500 words |
Friday, Dec. 3 |
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Reflection on Science Identity & Learning: These final assignments draw on the thinking you have done around your identity as an “engineering person” and the ways you can building this identity. Along with your mentorship vision board, you will submit as written reflection that discusses a) your vision board, b) the learning you’ve done through the peer review and revision process, c) the ideas you found most valuable in the course and d) the areas you want to continue to improve on. |
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! Mentorship Vision Board |
5 |
Tuesday, Dec. 7 |
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! Written Reflection |
5 |
4-5 pages (min. 1000 words) |
Tuesday, Dec. 7 |
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TOTAL |
100 |
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NOTE: There is no midterm or final exam for this course.
LATE WORK & Grading policies
Late work will receive a 5% per day late penalty. Note that any work that depends on your peers (e.g., peer review, group work) will not be eligible for a late penalty. If you miss the deadline, you will receive a zero.
Written Report Draft: Your instructor/TA must see a draft of your written report by October 20th or your assignment will receive a 50% penalty. Submitting your draft for peer review meets this obligation.
A 72-hour No Questions Asked extension is available to you (except for peer review or the NEM proposal). You may use the entire 72 hours or break it into three 24 hours blocks. Please indicate that you are using an extension in the comment section of dropbox when submitting your work on LEARN.
Accommodations
If you require an accommodation for any aspect of the course, please reach out to me as early as possible. Accommodation requests concerning your ability to complete course requirements as specified will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. In some instances, official documentation, such as a verification of illness form or communication from AccessAbility Services, may be required.
Grading Scale
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“A” range is exceptional. Work exceeds expectations by being creative, comprehensive, persuasive, and mostly error-free. “B” range meets expectations. Work demonstrates competency but is limited in originality and depth. Occasional errors do not undermine the overall integrity of the work. “C” range meets minimal expectations. Work tends to be underdeveloped in some areas. Errors may undermine the overall integrity and/or comprehension of the work. “D” or “F” ranges do not meet expectations. Work is underdeveloped in several areas. Errors tend to be frequent and undermine the overall comprehension of the work The passing grade is 50%. |
Other policies & resources
Course Copyright
All rights, including copyright, images, slides, audio, and video components, of the content of this course are owned by the course author and the University of Waterloo, unless otherwise stated. By accessing this course, you agree that you may only download the content for your own personal, non-commercial use. You are not permitted to copy, broadcast, download, store (in any medium), transmit, show or play in public, adapt, or change in any way the content of these web pages for any other purpose whatsoever without the prior written permission of the course author and the University of Waterloo, Centre for Extended Learning (this includes the content uploaded by students e.g., video presentations, discussion comments, etc.).
Academic Integrity & Discipline
A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offense, and to take responsibility for their actions. Visit the Office of Academic Integrity for more information. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offense, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offenses (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic adviser, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
Examples of academic misconduct include using work from students who have taken the class previously, using work that you have written for other classes, having someone complete part of an assignment, not signaling the author/source when you are quoting, summarizing, or paraphrasing.
Academic Integrity Office (University): http://uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity/
Academic Integrity Website (Engineering): https://uwaterloo.ca/engineering/current-undergraduate-students/academic-support/academic-integrity
Grievance
A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm
Appeals
A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition), or under Policy 71, Student Discipline, may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals. http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy72.htm
AccessAbility Services
If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of a known or unknown disability, illness or condition, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term. They can help you create an individualized academic accommodation plan for all components of your academic career. https://uwaterloo.ca/accessability-services/
Student Wellness & Counselling Services
University can be a challenging environment. Meeting with an experienced and friendly counsellor can help students address their questions and concerns, set goals and develop strategies and skills to manage stress or other concerns. Information is available online at Campus Wellness https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/counselling-services and UW MATES peer counselling https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/counselling-services/uw-mates-peer-counselling
Writing and Communication Center
The Writing and Communication Center works with students as they develop their ideas, draft their work, and revise their work. Writing and communication specialists offer one-on-one support on all aspects of this course, and you can make multiple appointments during the term. Please see their website to schedule appointments. Note that you can schedule group appointments for our team-based projects, presentations, and papers as well as sign up for various workshops and writing groups.
Student Success Office
The mandate of the Student Success Office (SSO) is to provide and facilitate strategic student support for academic and personal success. Information available online at