Effective Communication Skills for Engineers
COMSATSAbout This Course
This four-week beginner microcredential teaches engineers to communicate the same investigation in three professional forms: a scientific poster, a timed oral presentation with slides, and a technical report—while practising the interpersonal habits that make those artefacts usable in real teams.
Week 1 treats the poster as a conversation starter rather than a report glued to a wall. Learners design claim-led titles, distance-readable hierarchy, a tight word budget, and figures whose captions carry units and residual risk. They then practise live poster sessions: a twenty-second hook, a two-minute walkthrough, accessible stance beside the board, and honest answers to public and specialist visitors.
Week 2 develops oral communication as purpose, audience, occasion, and a clear ask. Learners apply a spoken spine the ear can hold (for example situation–complication–resolution–implication), bound their numbers, and layer jargon for mixed design-review panels. They convert that spine into claim-titled slides, composed figures, a clocked outline with optional cuts, and a leave-behind that is not a screenshot of the deck.
Week 3 is delivery and teamwork. Learners control voice (pause after the number), visuals (walk the figure; describe it for remote attendees), and Q&A (clarify, park, bound, name what would change the recommendation). They then identify interpersonal skills in engineering teams: psychological safety, listening that can be checked, turn-taking, task versus relationship conflict, and decision logs so spoken agreements survive the stand-up.
Week 4 covers why technical reports matter as operational and legal artefacts—decision support, traceability, handover, accountability—and how layout routes different readers through executive summary, methods, results, recommendations, and annexes. Learners write auditable prose: claim–evidence–warrant, figures cited in text, citations that mark source boundaries, and an executive summary that cannot contradict the chapters.
Throughout, scenarios are drawn from engineering practice (flood-defence open evenings, laboratory HVAC reviews, live-plant switchgear, footbridge vibration stand-ups, site-investigation reports). Open educational resources from MIT OpenCourseWare, Purdue OWL, and NYU Libraries support the lessons; an OpenLearn presentation-skills URL listed in the brief returned 404 and is omitted. Assessment is formative MCQs in every lesson, an eight-item quiz each week, a capstone in which one mini-project yields a poster brief, a five-minute talk outline, and a report executive summary, plus a twelve-item summative bank. The credential sits at EQF level 5 with two notional ECTS credits (about sixteen hours of learner effort).
Catalogue category: MC - Professional Training
Course number: COMSATS+MGT01+MC
Requirements
Undergraduate and early-career engineers (civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, environmental, and related) who must present work on site, in labs, in design reviews, and to clients or the public.
- Ability to describe one technical task or mini-project from study or work (a lab test, site observation, or design option).
- CEFR B2 English reading and listening.
- No prior graphic-design software is required; sketches and common slide tools are enough.
What You Will Learn
- By the end of the course, the learner will be able to design an engineering poster with a claim-led title, distance-readable hierarchy, and evidence figures whose captions state results with units and residual risk.
- By the end of the course, the learner will be able to present a poster in a live mixed-audience setting using a 20-second hook, a two-minute walkthrough, accessible stance, and honest Q&A.
- By the end of the course, the learner will be able to apply purpose–audience–occasion analysis and a spoken argument spine so a mixed engineering panel can hear a bounded claim and an ask.
- By the end of the course, the learner will be able to prepare a timed slide deck and talk outline with claim titles, composed figures, optional cuts, and a leave-behind distinct from the live slides.
- By the end of the course, the learner will be able to deliver an engineering presentation using audible paced voice, controlled visuals (including hybrid description), and clarify–park–bound Q&A.
- By the end of the course, the learner will be able to identify their own and their team's interpersonal skills in an engineering setting and choose moves that protect psychological safety, technical conflict, and written decisions.
- By the end of the course, the learner will be able to explain why technical reports matter as records of decision and handover, and apply a conventional layout spine with version control and reader routes.
- By the end of the course, the learner will be able to write technical-report prose in which claims, figures, and citations are auditable, action-ready, and consistent with an executive summary.