Published on March 7, 2017

The March 2017 issue of the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication has recently been published online. If you are a paper subscriber, you will receive the issue, printed together with the June issue, in early June.

Volume 60, Number 1, March 2017

Editorial— A Diamond Milestone for a Winning Combination, by G. F. Hayhoe

This issue marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the IEEE Professional Communication Society.

Research Article—Patients’ Adoption of WSN-based Smart Home Healthcare Systems: An Integrated Model of Facilitators and Barriers, by A. Alaiad and L. Zhou

Despite the great potential of wireless sensor network-based smart home healthcare systems (WSN-SHHSs) to improve the quality and experience, and lower the cost of healthcare, the technology has not been widely adopted partly due to an inadequate understanding of user expectations, needs, and preferences. This study addresses facilitators and barriers with regard to WSN-SHHS adoption by identifying important socio-technical, cognitive, affective, and contextual factors.

Research Article—Can Game-Based Learning Enhance Engineering Communication Skills?, by C. A. Bodnar and R. M. Clark

Enhancement of communication skills among engineering students has been a focus within the engineering curriculum for many years. Despite this emphasis, continual published reports document that engineering graduates are not well versed in the areas of written and oral communication when they graduate and transition into industrial based positions. This study focuses on examining whether game-based pedagogy could serve as a potential tool for enhancing the written and oral communication skills of engineering undergraduates.

Research Article—Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Graduate Attributes: Perspectives from Two Educational Paths, by C.-C. Lee and S.-F. Chin

This study aimed to provide insights on the perceptions of engineering students from two educational paths in Singapore of desired graduate attributes by employers. We posed the following research questions: 1) Do graduates from the polytechnic and junior college paths have similar perceptions with regard to the ranking of desirable graduate attributes? 2) If not, in what ways are their perceptions different?

Research Article—Effects of a Dyad’s Cultural Intelligence on Global Virtual Collaboration, by Y. Li, P.-L. P. Rau, H. Li, and A. Maedche

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the cultural intelligence of a dyad (a team of two persons) on its global virtual collaboration processes and outcomes. We studied whether a dyad’s cultural intelligence has an effect on global virtual collaboration processes and outcomes. If so, which effects does that cultural intelligence have?

Research Article— Taken Under Advisement: Perspectives on Advisory Boards from Across Technical Communication, by L. Söderlund, J. Spartz, and R. Weber

Advisory boards provide an opportunity for technical writing programs to connect consistently with industry practitioners and on-campus stakeholders, and yet few recent studies examine best practices for advisory boards in technical communication programs. We explored the typical makeup, function, and successes and failures of advisory boards. We also investigated best practices for starting and maintaining a successful advisory board, and the similarities and differences between how program administrators and board members perceive the benefits and functions of the board.

Research Article—How Consistent Are the Best-Known Readability Equations in Estimating the Readability of Design Standards?, S. Zhou, H. Jeong, and P. A. Green

Readability equations are widely used to compute how well readers will be able to understand written materials. Those equations were usually developed for nontechnical materials, namely textbooks for elementary, middle, and high schools. This study examines to what extent computerized readability predictions are consistent for highly technical material—selected Society of Automotive Engineers and International Organization for Standardization recommended practices and standards relating to driver interfaces.

Book Review—Communicating Mobility and Technology: A Material Rhetoric for Persuasive Transportation, Reviewed by A.K. Roundtree

The issue is available online at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=47. Note that a user ID and password are required to view individual articles.