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Academic year 2013-14

Communication in Technical English

Degree:	Code:	Type:
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science	21423	Compulsory subject, 3rd year
Bachelor's Degree in Telematics Engineering	21730	Compulsory subject, 3rd year
Bachelor's Degree in Audiovisual Systems Engineering	21615	Compulsory subject, 3rd year

ECTS credits:

Workload:

100 hours

Trimester:

1st

Department:	Dept. of Information and Communication Technologies
Coordinator:	Ralph Andrzejak
Teaching staff:	Ralph Andrzejak, Narcis Pares, Simon Mille, Serdan Adali
Language:	English
Timetable:
Building:	Communication campus - Poblenou

Introduction

The course on communication in technical English is a fundamental course in the degrees of ‘Enginyeria en Informàtica‘, ‘Enginyeria en Sistemes Audiovisuals‘, and ‘Enginyeria en Telemàtica’. It is held in the first trimester of the third academic year. It is important for all courses in the above degrees for which the study of English text books is required. Furthermore, the course is essential to attend classes in the degrees that are presented in English, during which the students have to express themselves in English, and for which homework has to be delivered in English.

The aim of the course is that all students improve their skills in communication in technical English. It will provide guidelines for the conceptualisation, structuring and writing of short as well as extended English texts. It will also contain guidelines for the conceptualisation, preparation and presentation of seminar talks in English. It will provide recommendations for the writing of formal emails. The students will learn to improve their comprehension of written and spoken English texts. The importance of English in the context of university studies, science, and the job market will be illustrated. The professors will indicate valuable sources of academic and scientific information in English to the students.

Prerequisites

This course does not require pre-knowledge from other courses of the degrees.

Associated competences

General competences	Specific competences
Instrumental · Capacity to communicate orally and in writing in English in academic and professional contexts, both before expert and non-expert audiences. · Ability to search and manage information. · Capacity to analyze, synthesise and organize information. · Capacity to apply knowledge to the analysis of situations and problem resolution. Interpersonal · Capacity to work in international and interdisciplinary contexts. Systemic · Capacity to recognise and understand diversity and multiculturalism.	· Appreciation of the importance of English for university studies, science, and the engineering job market. · Comprehension of written English text. · Comprehension of spoken English text. · Extraction and distilling of information from various English sources. · Preparation and Presentation of English Seminars. · Proficiency in written and oral communication in English

General competences

Specific competences

Instrumental
· Capacity to communicate orally and in writing in English in academic and professional contexts, both before expert and non-expert audiences.
· Ability to search and manage information.
· Capacity to analyze, synthesise and organize information.
· Capacity to apply knowledge to the analysis of situations and problem resolution.

Interpersonal
· Capacity to work in international and interdisciplinary contexts.

Systemic
· Capacity to recognise and understand diversity and multiculturalism.

· Appreciation of the importance of English for university studies, science, and the engineering job market.

· Comprehension of written English text.

· Comprehension of spoken English text.

· Extraction and distilling of information from various English sources.

· Preparation and Presentation of English Seminars.

· Proficiency in written and oral communication in English

Assessment

a. Deliveries

Article and oral presentation

You (every student individually) will

Select one current topic from engineering

e.g. cloud computing, robotics, video games in education, etc.

Collect information about your topic
Write a summary article about your topic (800 - 900 words main text + 150-180 words abstract). (25Pb). The deadline will be published in the first theory class. Afterwards professors publish all articles on Campus Global.
Make a 10 minutes oral presentation about your topic. (25Pb). All sessions will be scheduled in the last two S-classes. Depending on the number of students in the groups, some presentations will be scheduled in the last P-classes. The exact schedule will be made available shortly after the submission of the articles.

Short tests

Along the trimester we will make two or three short written exams (a total of 20Pb for all exams). These exams will be held in the theory or practica sessions. The exact dates of the exams will not be announced beforehand. What content the students should prepare for these exams will be explained in the second theory session.

Discussion of oral presentation

You (every student individually) will

Contribute to the discussion of the oral presentations of two other students

Once the schedule for the oral presentations is published, you read the articles of the other students in your sessions.
You select two different topics that interest you, say topic A and B.
You ask two questions during the oral presentation sessions. You will have to ask one of your questions directly before the presentation of topic A. This question will be based solely on your reading of the article about topic A. (5Pa)
You will ask one other question directly after the presentation of topic B. You can base your question on the abstract and on the oral presentation of topic B. (5Pa)

Short summary and question rounds

You (every student individually) will:

First S-classes:

Read a text and make a one/two minute oral summary (5Pa). You can choose from texts with different levels of difficulty.
Ask two questions after the summaries of two other students (5Pa).

Second S-classes:

Watch and listen to a short information video and make a one/two minute oral summary (5Pa). You can choose from videos with different levels of difficulty. Ask two questions after the summaries of two other students (5Pa).

Grading system

In the deliveries we specified two types of points. Pa and Pb.

Pa: Pass/Fail points - There are only two alternatives: If you do the task reasonably well, you get the full number of points. If you do not, you get zero points.
Pb: Graded points - Here any number between zero and the full number of points is possible. This number will reflect the quality of your contribution. To reach high quality you should follow the guidelines that will be explained in detail in the theory lectures (e.g. a clear organization of your oral presentation). You should comply with all technical specifications (e.g. be within the word count limits of your articles). Your English level is no quality criterion. Note that only truly excellent contributions will reach 100% of the Pb points. Pb points are also given the in the exams and correspond to the grade obtained in the exam.

Many of the points are earned during the S-classes. You can earn these points only in the classes that you are enrolled to. Do not switch between different groups.

Other points are earned by homework submitted via Campus Global. Here it is important that you submit before the corresponding deadline.

There is no final exam.

Your final grade will be G =(Pa+Pb)/10. You need a grade G of at least 5.0 to pass and you can reach a maximum of G = 10:0.

What happens when you do not reach a grade of 5.0?

You should calculate the sum of all points, except for those of the article, and the oral presentation. Only if this sum is 30.0 points or more, you can submit a new article and present a new oral presentation in the July evaluation. If this sum is 29.99 points or less, you cannot enter in the July evaluation. The points in this July evaluation will replace those earned for the article and oral presentation during the course and your grade will be calculated again. If you then reach a grade G of at least 5.0, you pass.

Summary

Categoryc	Elements	Weight	Recoverable
Treballs^a	Article	25%	Yes
Proves d’execució^a	Oral summary of texts / Questions	10%	No
	Oral summary of videos / Questions	10%	No
	Questions on oral presentations of other students	10%	No
	Short exams	20%	No
Proves de validació d’execució^a	Oral presentations	25%	Yes

^aWe here use the official Catalan terms for the categories.

1) Introduction.

Review of the importance of English in various contexts. Overview of the delivery structure of the course. Clarification and motivation of the goals of the course. Overview of the essentials of successful technical communication.

2) Recommendations for a good writing style.

Detailed guidelines for the selection of the right English words and the writing of English sentences. Avoiding plagiarism.

3) Writing abstracts in technical English.

The aim of abstracts. Elements of abstracts. Detailed guidelines for the writing of abstracts.

4) Writing short documents in technical English.

Examples and elements of short documents. Steps of writing short documents in technical English.

5) Oral presentations in technical English.

Examples of presentations in technical English. Guidelines for the conceptualisation, preparation, and presentation of seminar talks.

6) Writing extended research reports in technical English.

Examples and elements of research reports. Detailed guidelines on how to write extended research reports.

7) Guidelines for formal email writing.

8) Indications of valuable sources of academic and scientific information for undergraduate studies and beyond. Review of sources of academic online lectures.

Methodology

The course corresponds to 4 ECTS corresponding to 100 hours or workload for the students. Each student will attend 18 hours of theory classes, 10 hours of practice sessions, and 8 hours of seminar sessions. Accordingly, 36 hours are spent in classes. 20 hours are assigned to the collection of information needed to prepare the article and seminar (see Section 5). 20 hours are assigned to the writing of the article. 15 hours can be used to prepare the oral presentation. The remaining 9 hours should be spent to prepare the exams as well as for the study of text books and didactic resources.

In the theory classes, the professors will present the content summarized in Section 4. Furthermore, exemplary homework deliveries will be discussed in detail in the theory sessions. The purpose of this feedback is to indicate and avoid common mistakes. In the first two seminar sessions, the students will give short summaries of short texts and information videos. In the last two seminar sessions, the students will present their seminars. In all four sessions, the participation of all students forms part of the continuous evaluation (see Section 5). In the practice sessions, the professors and students will jointly discuss extended English texts and information videos on engineering topics. One session will be dedicated to the comprehension of the different English international accents, and one session will consist of an round-table debate on a current topic of engineering.

Resources