Widgets: Teaching Technical English, Innovation, and Ownership to Engineering Students

Technical Communication is a required course at most major engineering schools and it is often debated whether the course should be taught by English departments or by their engineering discipline. Expectations among students, teaching faculty, and authors of textbooks vary widely. This paper addresses the redesign of a technical communication course by one faculty member of an English department in an effort of gain greater student engagement as well as provide a means of teaching a broader scope of communication skills specific to the workplace. Using an object as focus, students are able to demonstrate innovation and ownership of ideas appropriate for engineering students.