Analysis of Ian Skimmer's Journal on Embedding Academic Literature Using The Curriculum in Electrical Engineering

Introduction

Engineers are facing a communication gap like never before. Companies are relying on engineers to put together project pitches and effectively write reports. The problem of today is that engineering students are not being taught these expected skills. Author Ian Skinner, who has graduated with a master’s degree from the Australian National University, has been researching the growing communication gap. In a journal of his, “Embedding Academic Literacy Support within the Electrical Engineering Curriculum: A Case Study” (Skinner, 2022), he identifies how institutions are handling the communication gap.

Understanding Academic Literacy

To open up, Skinner begins by identifying what academic literacy is. According to Skinner, academic literacy is also known as “the necessary communication skills” (Skinner, 2022, p. 547). What he is identifying is not the same as the abilities to read, write, and speak in some widely accepted language. The difference that academic literacy provides is that students are able to understand what they are reading or to be able to write organized reports. Academic literacy is the set of communication skills that can be directly transferred to workplace scenarios. The issue that Skinner brings up is that these are skills not being directly taught to students (Skinner, 2022, p. 547).

The Global State of Communication Education

Basic communication is taught globally to almost all students beginning at the elementary level. In many cases, it is taught even sooner than then. Students generally have completed their learning of basic literacy roughly around the high school level. The problem is that there are very few people who know when students learn academic literacy. Skinner states that “there are not that many programs in the world that do a successful job at addressing academic literacy” (Skinner, 2022). Whether it is the lack of experienced communication teachers or that most students have gotten by alright, academic literacy is not a common subject addressed by institutions. Further elaboration on the topic, Skinner writes that “for most institutions it is practically assumed that the student has background information and skills in academic literacy” (Skinner, 2022, p. 548). This shows that there are not that many institutions that are taking students’ literacy to the next level. Specifically, Skinner writes about his study of the University of New South Wales.

Case Study: University of New South Wales

As an example, Ian Skinner traveled to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia and looked into what they have done and are doing about academic literacy. By speaking with their communications department, he learned how UNSW has addressed academic literacy. He states that “the most common way to learn academic literacy comes from the expected work and testing provided by the program without much special help or attention needed directly” (Skinner, 2022, p. 550). In the past, this has been the UNSW’s outlook and approach to academic literacy. For many other institutions, this is currently their solution to improving students’ communication skills. What these institutions have been missing is that the goal for teaching students even at the collegiate level should be to teach students the communication skills that will be expected of them after graduation and on into the workplace. But now the UNSW has changed their approach to work towards that goal.

Innovative Approaches to Bridging the Gap

After a lengthy interview with the UNSW’s communication department, Skinner then learns what the UNSW is doing to help fix the communication gap. He reports that “the less common but increasingly accepted method is to integrate specific courses into the program in order to graduate, with the goal in mind to improve the academic literacy of the students” (Skinner, 2022, p. 553). The University added in additional parts to courses like covering how to properly write lab reports, including presentation/speech classes for engineers. They even included mandatory communication courses that are tailored to specific majors. The University of New South Wales in Australia is not the only institution changing its ways. Skinner cites a couple of other major universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard are adjusting their programs (Skinner, 2022, p. 554).

Conclusion

In Ian Skinner’s journal, he identifies that there is a growing expectation of students, specifically engineers, to polish up their communication skills. He identifies that beyond basic literacy, academic literacy is “the necessary communication skills” needed for the workplace. Through the University of New South Wales in Australia, he discovers that for the most part, institutions have expected students to have the previous knowledge and abilities for academic literacy. He also learns that currently, some institutions like the UNSW are changing their programs in order to teach academic literacy to their students. Skinner finishes his journal by mentioning that he will continue to look into what other institutions are doing to help bridge the communication gap.

References

Skinner, I. (2022). Embedding academic literacy support within the electrical engineering curriculum: A case study. Journal of Engineering Education, 112(4), 547-554.