Activity theory analysis of the visibility of writing practices in the engineering curriculum
- Publication Type:
- Conference Proceeding
- Citation:
- 6th Research in Engineering Education Symposium: Translating Research into Practice, REES 2015, 2015
- Issue Date:
- 2015-01-01
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Writing practices are seen to be essential for professional engineers, yet many engineering students and academics struggle with communicating in writing. This is despite the best efforts over many years of engineering educators and writing experts to develop writing strategies within or adjunct to the engineering curriculum. Much has been written about the importance of getting engineering students to write, but there has been little investigation of engineering academics' perceptions of writing practices in the curriculum, and the extent to which these practices are visible to the students and to the academics. The study uses activity theory to focus on interactions between individuals, writing practices and the engineering curriculum, to investigate what inhibits writing in the engineering curriculum at the level of engineering academics. The study identifies a number of tensions and contradictions in the development and practice of writing within the engineering curriculum.
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