By Patricia Sheridan
A three part series on a fundamental principle of effective group communication
Too often I meet with engineers and engineering students whose teams are not functioning well. They will talk to me about the project, they will talk to me about the deliverables, and …
Many engineering schools, both in English speaking and non-English speaking countries, have had to come up with strategies for improving the English language abilities of their students. Schools in predominantly English speaking countries with increasing non-domestic enrolments have begun to see the importance of language …
By Pat Truman
Three years ago…and I still remember four simple words a presenter said to me after his presentation. His efforts had engaged us for 90 minutes. We’d learned a lot. Our enthusiasm was audible. The session had flown by. I shook his hand and …
By Laurence Anthony
How many times have you seen a smoothly delivered presentation with great slides and a clear and logical structure suddenly becoming disappointing or disastrous during the Q&A? Everyone has experienced a presentation Q&A session in which an over- enthusiastic presenter dives in with …
Professional communication often involves producing documentation for slightly different contexts, sometimes over the course of multiple years. Information about the same product, process, or event is often delivered to different audiences and to meet different purposes. Product specifications might need to be developed for an …
Are you in the process of composing a set of slides, a handout, or some other graphical document? You may want to read Melissa Clarkson‘s new contribution to the site, on The Elements of Visual Communication, where she identifies key strategies for graphically communicate (A) hierarchy, (B) grouping and (C) sequence, three relationships that …
Melissa Clarkson
This brief tutorial introduces the foundational elements of visual communication. The emphasis is on techniques to graphically communicate (A) hierarchy, (B) grouping and (C) sequence— three concepts that are critical for designing effective figures, posters, and slides.
Here is an overview of the strategy:
Position, color, …
Living in a self-service society we are often confronted with different technologies when settling our daily affairs, such as online travel sites or public terminals like ATMs or ticket vending machines. While self-service technologies offer some advantages like 24/7 availability, there are serious disadvantages as well. …
Dr. Marsha Lovett talked about leveraging technology in the learning sciences in the opening keynote for IPCC 2014. We asked her what role learning sciences can play in improving pedagogy and student learning, especially in professional communication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1STpHaTdoo
Learn more about her and her work in cognitive …
Dr. Richard House, co-author of the Lufkin award winning paper on engineering ethos in environmental public policy deliberations, tell us about the case they studied, and what it tells us about how engineering argument and authority is often constructed. Find out about what helps to …
