Using Writing to Enhance Engineering Problem Solving Skills: Strategies for Engineering Faculty
Dr. Joan Mullin, Director, Writing Across the Curriculum Initiative; Professor, Department of English, UT Austin April 19, 2005
OVERVIEW:
- Why is it that some students can ace the homework but can't explain simple engineering concepts?
- Are writing assignments in “hard core” technical courses a waste of time?
- Want to require your MS and PhD students to write more but hate the idea of all that reading and grading?
Writing can be used as a way to teach engineering concepts and processes. Using writing as a teaching tool allows students to practice manipulating the language (verbal/written, mathematical, or visual) of a discipline so that they can integrate it into their own knowledge system in meaningful ways, rather than memorizing others’ words.
Bio: Dr. Joan Mullin joined the UT faculty last fall to direct a new Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) initiative in the College of Liberal Arts at UT Austin. Professor Mullin is one of the country's leading voices in WAC. She directed the University of Toledo's WAC program since 1988 and its Writing Center since 1987, and, in recent years, has earned an international reputation for her work in these areas. Currently she's collaborating on a book exploring the international implications of what were, until the late 1990s, largely American initiatives in writing instruction.
If you plan on attending please contact Terri Lavorgna or call the Academic Affairs Office at 471-7995 at least one day before the seminar.