Utilizing Co Op To Further Liberal Education Within Engineering

No matter what the subject area studied by students in institutes of higher learning, there is always the need to prepare written documents or create oral presentations. This communication skill preparation is critical for success in the working world. It is an activity that does not stop when a student enters the workforce. Since communication is a tool that finds its way into every area of employment, cooperative education can provide students with not only knowledge of the workplace but concrete experience in the need for good communication skill in the working environment. Classroom instruction can provide a certain amount of practical knowledge, but the forty-hour a week job brings the entire textbook learning into a proper perspective. It is with this information in mind, that a systematic approach to provide a background for dealing with communication issues was begun in the Cooperative Education Division of the College of Engineering at Michigan State University.