Extended abstract: A quantitative discourse analysis of first-year engineering student reflections: A pilot study of a service learning communication assignment

Service learning is a growing area of pedagogical study in both technical communication and engineering education. The focus of this pilot study is to discover if service learning within a technical communication classroom is a way of teaching students empathy for public welfare. Because empathy is the capacity and ability to recognize emotions in others, this pilot study focusses on identifying emotional language used by students in their reflections to see to whom it is associated.