Communication practices related to scientific publications in engineering education

Abstract

The purpose of this research in the classroom was to identify students’ perceptions in relation to oral and written activities related to scientific articles. The qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, and interpretive nature study, was conducted in the elective professional course Transportation Engineering scheduled for the fourth year of the Civil Engineering and Topographical Engineering programs at Universidad del Valle. In developing the course, it was proposed to read, prepare and present scientific articles written in English. As the main instrument for data collection, a questionnaire was provided to the students in a group workshop setting after the presentations were made. The content analysis confirmed that students positively value the practices developed and recognize their benefits in terms of skills development. For the teachers, the research allowed them to recognize, in their classroom, the scope of work reported in other studies and to characterize their students better, recognizing factors that affect the development of academic practices. This research experience is an exercise in reflecting on didactics in the classroom for the development of academic and professional communicative competence that every university teacher should consider.