A senior-level engineering course that meets general education requirements

The use of a senior-level engineering course to meet general education requirements for an upper-division writing course is discussed. An engineering course was developed following guidelines for an upper-division in-major course that requires a) frequent writing tasks with feedback on the content and quality of the writing, b) a process-oriented approach to writing instruction, c) study of models of writing by professionals in the discipline, and d) significant engineering content. While the first three requirements could be met by any writing course, the last requirement meant that a required engineering course with both technical content and significant non-technical content had to be developed. The solution was to coordinate the writing course with the senior project sequence that is immediately following. Technical subject matter used for assignments was chosen for its applicability to the senior project courses that follow using input from the instructor for those courses. In addition, written and oral projects were chosen to introduce formats useful within the design cycle of a project. Results are presented regarding enhancements of an existing course.