• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.3-16
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• 2010

This paper is about to research the contents of writing course to foster communication skills for engineering students. Some domestic college writing textbooks were analyzed to list the course contents. Studying 'technical writing' leads to identify the materials for both basic composition skills and technical writing skills. Then some reasons for selecting those materials and things about professors for the course as well as teaching the course are discussed. Developing proper textbook and the techniques for teaching those materials is a valuable task for the writing course.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.131-139
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• 2012

This paper emphasizes writing education for engineering students should be communication driven writing education based on KEC2005. Communication driven writing for engineering students is essentially same as Technical Writing(TW) developed on the basis of ABET. Considering the current writing capability of engineering students and social need for various types of writing, TW education should be divided into two courses: basic and advanced. This paper deals with contents of a basic TW course in Myongji University, as a model case of a basic TW course for engineering students. It underlines various methods of prewriting that should be stressed and practiced in the TW class, because the prewriting step in the writing process determines the overall direction and structure of an essay. In particular, this paper introduces Power Writing(PW) which uses the structure of a paragraph as a means for providing building-blocks for the essay, employing logic, and ordering information arrangement in a paragraph. This paper also deals with important guidelines about sentence structure and word selection and proposes various applications of TW such as resume, interview, proposal, report, and presentation as a latter part of the basic course. Finally this paper highlights the etics of writing, such as plagiarism and the basic principles of quotation.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.33-45
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• 2022

This study aims to investigate effects of scaffolding on writing apprehension and media literacy in engineering freshmen's synchronous online writing course, and the relationships between the two variables. 'Scaffolding' is in-time support provided by a teacher/tutor or competent peer that enables students to meaningfully gain skills at problem solving process. Also, it is one of the most frequently mentioned concepts in education as well as one of the more necessary teaching strategies in an online writing course. In this study, provided treatments for the experiment were supportive scaffolding for domain-specific knowledge and reflective scaffolding for meta-cognitive knowledge. Participants were 102 engineering undergraduate students, who were assigned to two experimental groups by scaffolding types. A process-based writing course in online learning environment was conducted for 8 weeks. The writing tasks were given according to writing process. The findings were that, firstly, there were statistically significant writing apprehension's reduction and self-expression's improvement through the scaffolding provided in writing class. Secondly, writing apprehension's reduction and self-expression's improvement were significant in supportive scaffolding group. Thirdly, media literacy predicted writing apprehension. The practical implications of these findings are discussed herein, with particular attention on ways for writing apprehension's reduction as well as media literacy's enhancement.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.26-41
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• 2014

This paper recommends to teach technical writing as a part of the curriculum of engineering design courses. Some features of both engineering design and keystone design course as well as capstone design course for engineering students are studied before the relationship of those features with written communication are investigated. After the characteristics of collaborative writing are reviewed, some aspects of integration of teaching technical writing into engineering design courses are evaluated. Technical writing for engineering students is best taught by collaborative writing approach in engineering design courses.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.33-42
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• 1998

Three benefits of incorporating writing in engineering curricula are presented. The first benefit is in improving the communication skills which are essential for engineers and are attained through practice. The second benefit is in enhancing learning and is achieved by utilizing the complex process of writing to heighten the level of understanding. The third benefit, though difficult to recognize and even more difficult to promote in a society (and educational institutes) steeped in the behaviorist tradition, is in promoting meaningful learning by cultivating motivation internal to students themselves. The boundaries of writing activities are broadened to include that of stating a paragraph or even one complete sentence such that it may be incorporated in engineering without undue strain. A two-year trial of incorporating four types of writing assignments in six different courses (a total of 12 classes) at Michigan Technological University shows that writing assignments can be designed to achieve different degrees of the three aforementioned benefits. It is found that different types of writing activities need to be assigned depending on the status of course (elective vs. required) and on the composition of the students taking the course (upper division vs. lower division; majors vs. non-majors).

• Journal of Practical Engineering Education
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.485-494
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between writing self-efficacy and academic achievement in a project-based university writing class, and the mediating effect of reflective journal writing. A total of 135 college students participated in the study. The results showed that students with higher writing self-efficacy had higher academic achievement and wrote more reflective journaling. Reflective journaling was found to have a positive impact on reviewing learned content, improving metacognition and memory, and promoting idea development. Overall, consistent reflective journal writing not only enhanced writing self-efficacy but also positively influenced academic performance.

• Journal of Practical Engineering Education
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2024

With the development of AI, multimedia tools in education offer personalized learning environments, which foster individual competencies. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of smart education as perceived by learners through a case study of university writing classes utilizing multimedia learning tools, and to explore potential applications. To achieve this, a writing course incorporating various multimedia tools to promote interaction was designed and implemented over the course of one semester, targeting 42 university students. Through the semester, student reactions and survey results were analyzed to investigate the effects and satisfaction levels regarding the use of multimedia learning tools in writing instruction as perceived by students. The analysis revealed that multimedia-assisted writing classes effectively fostered learners' autonomy by focusing on individual needs, while also promoting interaction and encouraging spontaneous participation. Students reported recognizing the presence of diverse perspectives by comparing and communicating about each other's writing, leading to an expansion of their own thinking. In using ChatGPT, it was found that students attempted to refine their questions until they obtained the desired answers. They reported that this process deepened their understanding of the essence of the questions. These benefits led to results of high levels of students' active class engagement and satisfaction. This study contributes foundational and empirical data regarding the effectiveness and potential applications of learner-centered smart education as part of fourth industrial revolution integration research.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.12-21
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• 2019

This paper asserts to teach engineering writing while teaching cornerstone design as well as addresses its background of the assertion. Cornerstone design course in which students study what is engineering design and what is the design process by team activities provides suitable circumstance for them to learn technical writing for solving communication problems and to produce some language artifacts. Studying the process-based writing and making use of the written artifacts in the course of engineering design process boosts design thinking for developing creative design concepts and mediates problem solving communications among design stakeholder.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.32-44
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• 2023

This research aims to examine the role of writing self-efficacy in engineering students' writing metacognitive strategies and writing apprehension. To achieve this purpose, first, the relationships among writing self-efficacy, writing metacognitive strategies and writing apprehension were investigated. Second, the effects of writing self-efficacy, as perceived by engineering students, on writing metacognitive strategies as well as writing apprehension were explored. A total of 173 engineering students from one university in Korea responded to survey based on a three-variables scale. The findings were that, firstly, positive correlations between writing self-efficacy and writing metacognitive strategies were identified in terms of sub-factors of those two variables. Secondly, negative correlations between writing apprehension and writing self-efficacy, and between writing apprehension and writing metacognitive strategies, were identified in terms of sub-factors of those variables. Thirdly, writing self-efficacy predicted engineering students' writing metacognitive strategies' sub-factors and writing apprehension. The practical implications of these findings are discussed herein, with particular attention on education for promotion of writing self-efficacy and reduction of writing apprehension.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.13-24
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• 2024

This research aims to examine the effects of engineering students' self-regulated learning strategies on writing self-efficacy, perceptions of writing feedback, and learning presence. To achieve this purpose, firstly, differences in self-regulated learning strategies, writing self-efficacy, perceptions of writing feedback, and learning presence were investigated among engineering and non-engineering students. Secondly, the effects of self-regulated learning strategies, as perceived by engineering students, on writing self-efficacy, perceptions of writing feedback, and learning presence were explored. A total of 196 engineering and non-engineering students from one university in Korea responded to a survey based on a four-variable scale. The findings were as follows: firstly, there were significant differences in self-regulated learning strategies, writing self-efficacy, perceptions of writing feedback, and learning presence by major. Secondly, positive correlations between self-regulated learning strategies, writing self-efficacy, perceptions of writing feedback, and learning presence were identified in terms of sub-factors of those variables. Thirdly, engineering students' self-regulated learning strategies predicted writing self-efficacy, perceptions of writing feedback, and learning presence. The practical implications of these findings are discussed herein, with particular attention to education for the promotion of self-regulated learning strategies and their application to writing courses, as well as diverse learning environments.