Using active learning to teach technical and non-technical skills in the same course

In ''Engineering Your Way to Success'' [1], published by the National Society of Professional Engineers, one needs to read only the table of contents to understand that the thrust of this work is not technically oriented. Only one of the eleven chapters discusses the technical skills necessary to achieve success as an engineer. The rest of the manuscript covers such items as communication skills, leadership, management, and teamwork. Similar lists have been seen in other publications indicating that the technical is expected while the other skills need reinforcement. In several courses presented at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, partnering has been utilized as a method to build teamwork in a collaborative/active learning environment. The initial thrust of the partnering program was to teach technical skills to a portion of the class and then require them to teach the others. Groups were partnered to facilitate the! teamwork aspect of the program. Since teams, or partners, were graded on the material taught to one-another, it was important for the teams to develop quickly. The success of the method in the technical areas has been exceptional, receiving excellent reviews from the students and involved faculty. A previously unrealized by-product of this procedure is the development of organizational and communications skills. Each group is required to teach their partners several technical subjects. To foster a positive learning environment, students are required to prepare a lesson plan that is submitted and graded prior to class delivery. This gives the professor an opportunity to check on the coverage and the quality of the planned instruction. Subsequently, groups present their classes, with the teacher present, and are graded on technical content and presentation effectiveness. Thus, both technical and non-technical skills are developed using the collaborative group. This paper describes the process used in developing the partnering program, outlines the results of testing associated with the student taught technical material, and includes an evaluation of communications skills improvement along with student reaction to both phases.