[IEEE IPCC 2005. Proceedings. International Professional Communication Conference, 2005. - Limerick, Ireland (July 7, 2005)] IPCC 2005. Proceedings. International Professional Communication

2005 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference Proceedings

0-7803-9028-8/05/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE.

Teaching the Communication Aspects of KCIDE (Knowledge Capturing Integrated Design Environment)

Jim Watson Cleveland State University [email protected]

Andy Brush Cleveland State University [email protected]

Lee Penkowski Cleveland State University [email protected]

Charles Alexander Cleveland State University [email protected]

Abstract

In an increasingly complex world, engineers must cope with an ever increasing number of software tools as well as much more elaborate collections of data from the laboratory. Additionally, they are faced with a significantly more difficult challenge, being able to effectively communicate with each other and the greater engineering and non-engineering communities. They must also be able to effectively communicate with themselves.

The knowledge capturing integrated design environment (KCIDE) was created to specifically address these problems. Even though KCIDE addresses the complete engineering work environment, this paper will concentrate on the communications aspects of KCIDE. Specifically, it will focus on how to teach these communication aspects to undergraduate and graduate students.

Originally coming out of NASA where these problems have been compounded by a workforce that will have a significant portion retire in the next decade, KCIDE is becoming a formal part of the undergraduate and graduate level instruction at Cleveland State University (CSU). Elements of KCIDE have been identified and built into instructional modules that are being integrated into the undergraduate and graduate level curricula using ProSkills[1], a proven program for effectively integrating these instructional modules into engineering courses both core and elective.

Keywords: engineering communication, knowledge capturing, integrated design environment, KCIDE, project management

Introduction

The knowledge capturing integrated design environment (KCIDE) was developed to help engineers cope with two major problems. The first was to integrate the software tools and laboratory results into a single environment where data can be shared and analyzed. The second, and more important problem that KCIDE addresses, is the issue of effectively communicating the engineering being done. Historically, the communication of the engineering on a project has been so bad that if the engineering project is given to another engineering team to work on, the new team would be virtually forced to start over again as if the project had not been done in the first place. In fact, if that same project was given to the team that worked on it months or years later, they too would have to start over again as if they had not originally worked on the project.

The issue of properly documenting a project such that a new team could start in the middle of a project and complete it without having to go back to the very beginning is the most significant value of KCIDE. Obviously, if the new team could start in the middle, then the original team could stop working on the project for months and/or years, pick up where they left off, and complete the project. This has considerable advantages. It results in more efficient work on a project and a more

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robust design. In addition, it moves many design decisions from the end of the project to the beginning where it is much cheaper to make changes, and that significantly enhances system integration.

This type of documentation requires a very logical and structured approach. It must be highly portable from one person/team to another. To use it effectively, engineers must actually develop a culture of following the basic principles of a systematic approach to engineering design. That culture can actually be developed as a foundation within the undergraduate and graduate level curricula.

Foundation

As stated earlier, there are two basic parts to KCIDE, the tools and the communication of the engineering being done. The communication aspects will be the focus of this paper so those are the elements that will be presented.

The foundation for this comes from the six elements of problem solving presented in Alexander and Sadiku [2].

“1. Carefully Define the problem. This may be the most important part of the process, because it becomes the foundation for the five steps. In general, the presentation of engineering problems is somewhat incomplete. You must do all you can to make sure you understand the problem as thoroughly as the presenter of the problem understands it.

Time spent at this point clearly identifying the problem will save you considerable time and frustration later. As a student, you can clarify a problem statement in a textbook by asking your professor to help you understand it better. A problem presented to you in industry may require that you consult several individuals. At this step, it is important to develop questions that need to be addressed before continuing the solution process. If you have such questions, you need to consult with the appropriate individuals or resources to obtain the answers to those questions. With those answers, you can now refine

the problem, and use that refinement as the problem statement for the rest of the solution process.

2. Present everything you know about the problem. You are now ready to write down everything you know about the problem and its possible solutions. This important step will save you time and frustration later.

3. Establish a set of Alternative solutionsand determine the one that promises the greatest likelihood of success. Almost every problem will have a number of possible paths that can lead to a solution. It is highly desirable to identify as many of those paths as possible. At this point, you also need to determine what tools are available to you, such as MATLAB and other software packages that can greatly reduce effort and increase accuracy. Again, we want to stress that time spent carefully defining the problem and investigating alternative approaches to its solution will pay big dividends later. Evaluating the alternatives and determining which promises the greatest likelihood of success may be difficult but will be well worth the effort. Document this process well since you will want to come back to it if the first approach does not work.

4. Attempt a problem solution. Now is the time to actually begin solving the problem. The process you follow must be well documented in order to present a detailed solution if successful, and to evaluate the process if you are not successful. This detailed evaluation may lead to corrections that can then lead to a successful solution. It can also lead to new alternatives to try. Many times, it is wise to fully set up a solution before putting numbers into equations. This will help in checking your results.

5. Evaluate the solution and check for accuracy. You now thoroughly evaluate what you have accomplished. Decide if you have an acceptable solution, one that you want to present to your team, boss, or professor.

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6. Has the problem been solved Satisfactorily? If so, present the solution; if not, then return to step 3 and continue through the process again. Now you need to present your solution or try another alternative. At this point, presenting your solution may bring closure to the process. Often, however, presentation of a solution leads to further refinement of the problem definition, and the process continues. Following this process will eventually lead to a satisfactory conclusion.”

It should be noted that it is very easy to replace problem with project in these six steps and you have an effective approach to use on any project.

There are three additional key elements to this process. The first is proper documentation. The second is the ability to make a proper presentation. The third is learning how to ask questions.

Implementation

KCIDE is the total working environment of an engineer. ProSkills is a process to develop and enhance engineering skills through the insertion of appropriate instructional modules into existing engineering courses. Therefore, the development of appropriate KCIDE modules and then using ProSkills to integration them into an existing engineering curriculum is an excellent method of introducing engineers to this environment and providing exercises to help them learn how to work effectively in KCIDE.

Implementing the elements of KCIDE consists of three activities. Using standard ProSkills communication modules[1] without change, using communication modules modified to reflect the needs of KCIDE, and developing new modules such as the elements of project management and systems engineering.

To initiate the use of ProSkills and provide students and instructors the opportunity to gain experience using KCIDE, existing ProSkills units will be grouped into focus streams. In most cases, there will be three electronic interfaces with KCIDE. The following discussion is an example of how this will be implemented.

One of the most important communication tools is the development of an electronic personal portfolio. KCIDE provides an excellent platform for this portfolio.

Figure 1. Students, faculty, and representatives of industry use the KCIDE environment when working with students’ Electronic Portfolios

Student documents will first be placed in a repository section in KCIDE in which students will have sole access and complete control of the information in these files.

A second KCIDE area will be identified as a working section. Students and other appropriate university personnel will have access to this section. Instructors will place assignments and resource information in this section. Students will access this information when requested to do so by instructors as part of each assignment.

Students will use the repository section to develop work for each assignment and then move selected electronic files to the working section when they

Electronic Personal Portfolio

KCIDE

RepositorySection

WorkingSection

ProfessionalSection

Student

Student

Instructor

Industry

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are requested to submit work for review and evaluation. Instructors, teaching assistants, graduate assistants, and selected peers will have access to this section to obtain documents for review. Results of evaluations will also be placed in the working section to communicate details to students and to provide information to help them revise their work.

A third level of the KCIDE system will be the professional section. After student work has been evaluated and revised, students will move some files to this section where they can be viewed by approved representatives of industry and other interested parties. Students retain control of these files because they decide what to place in this part of the KCIDE system.

All ProSkills exercises include some or all of the four basic communication skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The following discussion of two ProSkills streams will demonstrate how communication is involved.

The personal portfolio stream will be introduced in the first semester of the freshman year. Three basic communication skills will be involved.

Students will listen to a lecture on the value of a personal portfolio as it relates to the culture of engineering. Following the lecture, students will be directed to the KCIDE system to download and read resource information and details of an assignment associated with the development of a career plan.

Students will then be assigned to write an initial career plan as part of their portfolio and to place this in the working section of KCIDE for review. Instructors will download career plans and evaluate them for content and writing skills. The results of these evaluations will be included in the class grade for each student. In addition, comments and suggestions for improvement will be placed in the working section for students to review and make changes as needed.

The portfolio stream continues when sophomores develop a resume for co-op and intern positions. A similar pattern is used in which students listen to alecture on how to place information in their portfolio that can be used as the foundation for their resume.

Following this lecture, students download and read information from KCIDE for their assignment to write a resume for review. This is placed in the working section for the review process similar to the career plan. After students revise their resume, they move this to the professional section of KCIDE so representatives from industry can review these prior to offering co-op or intern positions.

Juniors are involved in the portfolio stream when they prepare a resume for after graduation job searches. The structure for these resumes is somewhat different from those discussed for co-op positions, but information relating to this format is also obtained from the KCIDE system. After resumes have been evaluated and revised, students move them to the professional section of KCIDE for review by industry.

The career plan portion of the portfolio stream is revisited when seniors listen to a second lecture on career management and write a revised career plan to demonstrate the dynamics of keeping career information up to date.

The final activity in the portfolio stream involves graduate students. Career plans and resumes developed during the junior and senior exercises are revised to include a focus on graduate school and their working career.

Each of these exercises, from freshman through senior years, involves hearing lectures, reading resource and assignment information, and writing reports for review and evaluations.

A second stream for oral presentation skills follows a similar development process. Sophomores listen to a lecture on how to prepare and deliver informal oral presentations. They download and read information on oral communication skills and the preparation of effective visuals.

Speaking skills are enhanced when students are assigned to give a 5-minute informal presentation at the start of a class in which they summarize the previous class. This assignment is made at the end of the class session to encourage students to listenand write notes during the lecture in case they are selected to give the summary in the next session.

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Because instructors typically give a summary of the previous class lecture at the start of each class, time spent by students in this exercise does not limit class lecture time. Instructors evaluate student presentations, apply results to the class grade, and place evaluations in the student’s portfolio working section for their review.

This stream continues in selected laboratories in which students deliver bench demonstrations. Presentation techniques are somewhat different from a prepared oral presentation, but students obtain additional experience in speaking to the class as they demonstrate how to conduct an experiment. The portfolio stream also includes written laboratory reports in which writing skills and content are evaluated using KCIDE tools.

The portfolio stream is involved in the senior design class. Students listen to a second lecture on preparing formal oral presentations and, download and read additional resource information on planning and delivering a team presentation.

Proposal presentations are videotaped. Students receive a VCD of their team presentation for personal review. In addition, evaluations are placed in the working section of KCIDE and students download these to review comments and suggestions for improvement.

Final senior design presentations are videotaped and evaluations placed in the working section to provide additional suggestions for future oral presentations.

Graduate students also participate in the oral presentation stream. A seminar is conducted to assist students to write their thesis and to present and defend this orally. All four communication skills are enhanced in this part of the portfolio stream. Students listen to a lecture on written and oral thesis preparation, download and readresource materials, write a thesis, and deliver an oral presentation of the thesis.

Other existing ProSkills units to be implemented into the KCIDE system in a similar process include time management, active membership in professional societies and personal networking, teamwork, business awareness, business letters and e-mails, and ethics.

In addition to the existing ProSkills units, other exercises will be developed and added to KCIDE as desired. For example, the six steps associated with problem solving/project management can easily become part of KCIDE.

The first step, “Carefully Define the problem,”requires the modules on how to ask and answer questions. The process followed at this point evolved from the detailed presentation in Alexander and Sadiku [3] relative to asking questions. A quote from Jim Watson is worth noting at this point, “Communication skills are the

most important skills any engineer can have. A

very critical element in this tool set is the ability to

ask a question and understand the answer, a very

simple thing and yet it may make the difference

between success and failure!” [3]

Students need to be taught how to really define a problem/project based on a series of activities involving the right kind of questions of the individuals presenting the problem/project. Facility with this process is developed through a series of assignments designed to teach how to ask the right questions and to properly listen and interpret responses. We begin teaching this with freshmen and continue the process through the doctoral program where students are taught how to answer and ask questions at professional conferences.

Students are also taught that defining the problem/project is a continuous process of making sure adjustments are considered and made where

Figure 2. Being able to ask a question and understanding the answer is absolutely necessary to becoming a successful professional.

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appropriate as more is learned throughout the entire problem solving/project cycle. This also includes keeping up the documentation related to everything known about the problem/project.

The third step in this process is to, “Establish a set of Alternative solutions and determine the one that promises the greatest likelihood of success.”Again, the important part of this process is documenting what is being considered, why is it being considered, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative, and then properly document the decision process explaining the eventual choice or choices.

The fourth step is to, “Attempt a problem solution.” Here again the student must be taught to provide an adequate level of documentation. In addition, the student is encouraged to work with a pen rather than a pencil when doing hand calculations. If the student feels they made a mistake, the mistake is noted and a simple line can be drawn through the work. The advantages of this are clear; we can learn from our mistakes and, if the work was actually correct, the work can be recovered.

The fifth step is to, “Evaluate the solution and check for accuracy.” This is an important part of the process in that, if done properly, the student can be assured of a correct answer. If the answer is proven to be incorrect at a later time, the student can review the documentation to determine what was flawed in the evaluation process.

The sixth step is to ask the question, “Has the problem been solved Satisfactorily? If so, present the solution; if not, then return to step 3 and continue through the process again.” This part is clearly a communication activity once a satisfactory solution has been obtained. The presentation is a combination of a written presentation and an oral presentation.

A set of modules designed strictly for a circuits course using specially designed software has been presented in Fu and Alexander [4]. This includes a software package, available from CSU, which simulates a KCIDE environment for an electric circuits course. This package includes a platform that takes the student through each step of the six step process. A significant advantage to this is the availability of database of student solutions that

can be presented to the professor in any manner the professor chooses.

Additional elements that are also being developed are teaching students:

1. how to keep a written engineering log 2. how to develop an electronic portfolio 3. the elements of project management 4. how to use software packages such as

Cradle and Rulestream both designed to aid in project documentation

5. how to develop problem/project requirements and how to analyze them

6. the elements of professional practice (engineering values) which impact documentation

7. elements of systems engineering that impact the documentation process

Conclusions and future activities

Clearly engineers need help. More engineering

will need to be done over the next decade than

has been done throughout history until now.

Since the workforce will not expand very much during the next ten years, each engineer will need to do much more and the only way this can be accomplished will be to provide them a powerful KCIDE like environment.

The greatest need for future development is the need for an intelligent process to be developed to electronically use the documentation being created. The impact of this problem is best illustrated by imagining being buried under 10 meters of shelled corn. How do you use it without being suffocated?

The future will be filled with challenges and search engines hold a lot of promise. Software such as Cradle and RuleStream and Ansoft also hold a lot of promise and are being used in our research. Also, voice recognition software looks very exciting. Another challenge is to identify only one location for a piece of data so that it can be easily found to make changes throughout an entire document.

References

[1] Watson, J.A., and Alexander, C.K., “Communication Aspects of ProSkills: A Non-Technical Skill Development and Enhancement Program for Engineers,” 2005 IEEE International

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Professional Communication Conference (IPCC 2005), Limerick, Ireland, July 10-13, 2005.

[2] Alexander, C. K. and Sadiku, M.N.O., Fundamentals of Electric Circuits, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, 2004, pages 18-21.

[3] Alexander, C. K. and Sadiku, M.N.O., Fundamentals of Electric Circuits, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill, 2004, page 715.

[4] Fu, Y. and Alexander, C., “A Knowledge Capturing Integrated Design Environment for a Course in Electrical Circuits,” 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Portland, Oregon, June 12-15, 2005.

About the Authors

Jim Watson received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and completed the University of Michigan’s Public Utility Executive Program. He worked for 36 years in a Fortune 100 company where he held both engineering and management positions. In addition to publishing numerous articles on communications, networking, and interpersonal skills in national publications, Jim led the development and implementation of ProSkills. He is a senior and life member of IEEE. As an international lecturer, he has given over 1,600 presentations, programs, and workshops in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia to a total audience of more than 80,000.

Lee J. Penkowski received a BSEE from Case in 1959 and was the Acting Chief Technical Officer for Rockwell Automation from 1999-2001. He was also the Director of Advanced Technology, General Manager of the Drive Systems Business, Manager of Electric Drives R & D Engineering and Engineering Manager. Before this, he held several engineering and management positions all at Reliance Electric. He worked at Reliance from 1968 until he retired except for a two and one-half year period where he worked at WER Industrial, Emerson Electric as Chief Engineer. Prior to Reliance he worked at Goodyear Aerospace Corporation, the Square D Company, and Honeywell Aeronautical. Lee has several patents and, in 2001, Rockwell presented him with the Odo J. Struger Automation Award for his contributions to electric drives and

superconducting motor development, leadership and professionalism. Products, developed under his leadership have won four national awards.

Andrew S. (Andy) Brush is managing director of Brush Development Company of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and is serving as the lead for co-design of the Prometheus 1 high voltage power system at the NASA Glenn Research Center. During the Space Station program, he managed the power systems section of Sverdrup Technology’s Lewis Research Center Group and served as a test engineer and project leader in the Advanced Development Testbed at NASA LeRC. Prior to founding Brush Development, Andy was Director of Product Development at Keithley Instruments. Andy has other industrial experience including electric utility T&D planning and design, industrial automation, and software engineering for real-time manufacturing systems. He received the B.S. in electric power engineering from Rensselaer, the MSME from Case Western Reserve University, and the Executive MBA from the Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School.

Charles K. Alexander, is dean and professor of electrical and computer engineering of the Fenn College of Engineering, director of the Center for Research in Electronics and Aerospace Technology (CREATE), and director of Ohio ICE, a research consortium in instruments, controls, electronics, and sensors representing CSU, Case, and The University of Akron. All of these are current responsibilities at Cleveland State University. In addition, he is a fellow of the IEEE; fellow of FIEEE; 1997 president of the IEEE; co-editor of Fundamentals of Electric Circuits (1st and 2nd

editions) and Problem Solving Made Almost Easy,co-Editor of the Electronic Engineer’s Handbook,5th edition, all published by McGraw-Hill.

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Documents

[IEEE IPCC 2005. Proceedings. International Professional Communication Conference, 2005. - Limerick, Ireland (July 7, 2005)] IPCC 2005. Proceedings. International Professional Communication