The Development Of Communication And Design Skills Through Multi Disciplinary Teamworking

Abstract

This paper details the methodologies developed at Sheffield Hallam University for improving students' design, teamworking and communication skills through participation in undergraduate and postgraduate modules. One module is a residential 'teamwork and leadership course', which final year undergraduates undertake. This module develops the students' teamwork and leadership skills away from the university, by participating in a series of indoor and outdoor tasks, with an inter-disciplinary design focus, spread over a weekend. Assessment is by both staff observation and student self-reflection with a 'portfolio style' evidence-based final report. The second module described in this paper uses 'video conferencing' between higher education institutions, with postgraduate students at each university undertaking joint project work. These joint projects are multidisciplinary , for example engineering students working with business students, or materials engineering students working with design students. This leads to the students' greater understanding of the importance of teambuilding within a multidisciplinary environment. The paper evidences evaluation of the modules described, incorporating both students' and the United Kingdom (UK) engineering professional bodies' views on the skills and expertise that they have developed, and the importance that they perceive of this skill development for a professional engineer in the UK.