Edited by: isam abaker

Objectives 1. Communication and Presentation Skills 2. Teamwork & Leadership Attributes 3. Design office Environment in Class

Recent Assessment of the Departmental Programs Lack of Communication Skills Lack of Presentation Skills

No formatted approach exists to develop teamwork & leadership attributes amongst students -Vital skills for success at the professional level at the professional level Recent Assessment of the Departmental Programs

Simulating a Design Office Environment with Premium on Reinforcement of Personal Skills TransitionTransition Need

Background of Problem Most pre-university preparatory schools do not focus on development of communication & presentation skills

Background of Problem Very limited opportunities for Saudi youth to participate in community activities and organized sports so as to hone teamwork and leadership attributes

Last Semester CE315 CE408 Strategy The Department in concert with the College of Engineering chose two design courses in which to embed design components and communication skills Pilot Study

Inasmuch as this was an innovation being attempted for the first time as a package, the instructors for the two courses had the liberty of reformatting the courses so as to achieve the designed results. Strategy

Execution CE 315 is a format course. The contact hours of the Lab (3) allowed the flexibility for embedding new ideas

Extensive use was made of a very popular software used in design industry (STAAD.Pro) Design synthesis education in the Lab in parallel with component design in the class-room lecture format Execution

The class of modest size (12 students) was divided into teams based on personal choice of students (2 to 3 each) with the teams working together on select large scale assignments over the course of the semester.

Group II On completion of the assignment, each team was asked to make a presentation of their work. PowerPoint Presentation Interactive Execution

Presentation was rotated amongst team members in order to give each student an opportunity to improve communication & presentation skills (C & P)

Execution After each presentation, pointers were given to the students to help enhance their communication skills and the positivity of their body language

Execution Discernible improvement was noted not only in the C & P skills but also in self confidence, demeanor, team work, and leadership traits

Execution The crescendo of the experiment was the introduction of the students to a full scale project (inclusive of reading of blueprint drawings) so that the teams could construct 3-D space models for analysis and design using STAAD.Pro.

Execution Reaching such a climax in a one semester introductory design course is not normally possible in the traditionally formatted course Reaching such a climax in a one semester introductory design course is not normally possible in the traditionally formatted course Synthesis design in parallel to component design seems to strike the fancy of students and the relaxed lab environment was noted to be conducive to accelerated learning

Execution Visit to building sites Visit to Dammam Municipality ACI Technical Dinner meetings

Future New format proved quite promising and students reflected their delight in being part of a family of “Young Professionals”

Future C & P skills should be embedded in a few courses spaced over F., S., J., & Sr. years Use of Audio-Visual equipment should be made to help student with his C&P skills Greater use of industry software should be made to accelerate synthesized learning

Computer Lab should be enhanced & made accessible 24*7 with trained staff Future

Role of TA’s vital in success (Thank you Mr. Jaffer!) Faculty should have formatted exposure to advances in industry

Procedure for involvement of practicing engineers in design courses should be streamlined

Thank You