Development of communication skills and teamwork amongst undergraduate engineering students

Two of ABET's engineering program outcomes are that graduates of engineering programs possess an ability to communicate effectively and an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams. It has been observed with concern that entrants to engineering programs are inadequately prepared with respect to communication skills in oral and written communication, report writing, technical writing, lecture notes taking, math skills, inter alia. This paper demonstrates how courses in the engineering program, namely, introduction to engineering, and engineering graphics can be used to develop skills in technical writing, oral communication, team building, creativity, analysis, synthesis; in the overall engineering design process. Real life projects were used. Customer requests were made and briefs obtained for projects. Course evaluation tools were used to assess student learning outcomes. Feedback sessions were held and outcomes and lessons learned were documented towards ABET accreditation and follow up studies.