Engineering communication skills through peer tutoring and reflective practice

John Reizes and Alex Churches
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales

In 1995 a peer tutoring scheme was implemented in which students enrolled in a third year engineering subject, Professional Studies, engaged in four weeks of tutorial instruction to first year students in the use of a solid-modelling designer's package in their introductory graphics course. The scheme was seen as meeting complementary learning needs for first and third year students. The third year subject, Professional Studies, had as a primary learning objective the development of students' communication skills, and peer tutoring provided an opportunity to practise communication skills of a kind which graduates will be required to use as professional engineers. Monitoring of the first year subject in previous years had found that these students needed concentrated tutorial help to acquire the basic proficiency to operate the solid modelling Pro/ENGINEER package before commencing their design exercises. A trial of peer tutoring for this purpose in 1993 led to the conclusion that this was 'the instructional method of choice in such circumstances'.

As part of the course requirements, each third year student tutored one or two first year students at workstations over a four week period. In addition, the peer tutors kept a 'reflective practice diary' in which observations on tutees' learning progress and their own instructional strategies were recorded. At the end of each week, students were required to review their diary entries and to have reflected on how they can use these observations to develop or alter their peer tutoring techniques. The paper describes operation of the scheme, explores the impact of participation in peer tutoring on communication skill development, and examines the role played by the 'reflective practice' diary requirement in developing self-awareness of their communication skill effectiveness.