Resumen de Visual rhetoric enhancing students ability to communicate effectively
According to ABET (Engineering Accreditation Commission), engineering programs are required to train the students `to communicate effectively'. This echoes the increasingly heard call from companies to deliver students with excellent communication skills. Unfortunately, this does not provide an answer to two important questions. First, what is understood by communicating effectively? Secondly, what are the implications of this requirement for the classroom practice of the majority of engineering courses, which do not explicitly incorporate communication skills? According to the authors, the first question can be answered by referring to the rhetorical definition of effectiveness (more specifically the theoretical insights provided by Quintilian) and its relevance for technical communication. According to us, `communicating effectively' is more an attitude than a highly specific skill to be learned. Furthermore, the second issue can be answered by introducing the idea of the concept of visual rhetoric, which proves to be an ideal tool to focus on audience perception, one of the key rhetorical terms. In accordance with the teaching rationale developed by our colleagues from Antwerp University, which incorporates the strengths of collaborative working, we therefore propose a teaching methodology that can be used in any engineering course that would help students to learn to communicate effectively. After having introduced this teaching methodology in our communication course, we set up a qualitative study of the revision plans written by our students. In conclusion, we can claim that our students have successfully incorporated the `attitude' of communicating effectively.
