Communication Skills

Data is displayed for the academic year: 2024./2025.

Laboratory exercises

Seminar

Course Description

Communication skills are necessary for engineers to efficiently communicate knowledge, tasks, or ideas in their working environment to their team members, superiors or investors. Within the course, students acquire knowledge and skills related to the main communication needs of engineers, especially presentation, teamwork, oral, written communication, and preparation of multimedia content.

Study Programmes

University undergraduate
[FER3-EN] Computing - study
(1. semester)
[FER3-EN] Electrical Engineering and Information Technology - study
(1. semester)

Learning Outcomes

  1. Write a structured and narrative CV and present themselves orally
  2. Show their work and results in written and oral form to both experts and the general public
  3. Describe and communicate information, activities, needs and intentions effectively in oral, written and graphic form
  4. Design and create an effective photo, sound and video recording
  5. Select and evaluate relevant information and critically analyze it
  6. Plan and effectively execute meetings and negotiations
  7. Analyze communication problems, avoid them and solve them
  8. Compare cultural differences and norms, respect them and adopt them appropriately

Forms of Teaching

Lectures

At a lecture students and the lecturer discuss the subject for which they have prepared through research and preparatory homework. Posting questions and answers via Audit system students actively contribute to the lecture and their learning. The teacher helps the formation of conclusions, lays out the theoretical basis, provides guidance for the application of new knowledge and give guidelines for further independent learning. If necessary, the teacher explains the homework following the lecture.

Seminars and workshops

The seminar work in the form of a two-minute video presentation on a given topic.

Independent assignments

Homework

Other

Class preparation assignments

Grading Method

Continuous Assessment Exam
Type Threshold Percent of Grade Threshold Percent of Grade
Homeworks 50 % 25 % 50 % 40 %
Quizzes 50 % 10 % 0 % 10 %
Class participation 50 % 15 % 0 % 0 %
Seminar/Project 50 % 30 % 50 % 30 %
Mid Term Exam: Written 0 % 1 % 0 %
Final Exam: Written 0 % 19 %
Exam: Written 50 % 20 %
Comment:

When completing the course with continuous assessment/learning::

  • Quizzes in the table above refer to class preparation assignments available on Moodle, which are worth 10 course credits and have a 50% passing threshold.
  • Class participation in the table above refer to questions for interaction in live classes (5%) and questions for knowledge assessments in live classes (10%) and each of those two categories has a 50% passing threshold.
  • Achieving the 50% threshold in each activity category, achieving the 50% threshold in midterm plus final exam credits as well as at least 60 course credits in total are course passing prerequisites.
When completing the course in the exam period:
  • Course credit achieved in the category Quizzes and Class participation are scaled to a maximum of 10% of the total number of credits. There is no threshold for this category and no way to make up for those credits.
  • Assignment credits achieved in the Homework category (assignments email, biography and motivation letter, slideshow, photography, video, and pitch) are scaled to a maximum of 40% of the total number of course credits. Students can improve and re-submit any included homework if they want. Aside from the 50% passing threshold, additional precondition for passing the course is >0 assignment credits for each of the homework assignments in this category.
  • For any Homework assignment that a student submits in the exam period the assignment credit they achieved during continuous assessment is deleted and the new credit that they achieve is assigned.
  • The Project assignment credits are not transferred from continuous classes to exam periods. The Project assignment is in the exams period completed by holding a lecture that students should independently arrange and hold physically (not online) in a library, a school, or an elderly home in minimum duration of 30 minutes in front of an audience of at least 3 people. Students should independently arrange and hold the lecture on the topic of their choice and at a time agreed upon with the host institution. At the exam period, students should submit a certificate from the head of the institution confirming that they held the lecture, a recording of the lecture, and a signature sheet from the lecture. Students will be able to complete the written exam online, from a location of their choice.

Week by Week Schedule

  1. Introduction, active learning methods, learning styles
  2. e-Mail
  3. Listening, speaking, conflicts
  4. Resume and cover letter
  5. Negotiating, meetings, personalities
  6. Slideshows
  7. Delivering presentations
  8. Midterm exam
  9. Scientific, professional, and popular writing
  10. Web search and evaluation of information
  11. Photography and videography
  12. Students' presentations - pitching
  13. Seminar
  14. Cultural differences and etiquete
  15. Final exam

Literature

John W. Davies (2001.), Communication skills,
Thomas E. Harris, John C. Sherblom (2018.), Small Group and Team Communication, Waveland Press

General

ID 209625
  Winter semester
4 ECTS
L1 English Level
L2 e-Learning
30 Lectures
3 Seminar
0 Exercises
5 Laboratory exercises
0 Project laboratory
0 Physical education excercises

Grading System

90 Excellent
80 Very Good
70 Good
60 Sufficient