Module overview
Engineering is about more than technical expertise. Professional engineers must communicate effectively, collaborate with others, adapt to change and continue learning throughout their careers in order to develop solutions that are safe, sustainable and beneficial to society.
In this module, you will reflect on your development as both an engineer and a learner. You will strengthen your professional, interpersonal and communication skills while exploring themes such as teamwork, leadership, inclusivity, professional responsibility and personal effectiveness. Through structured activities and reflective practice, you will develop a deeper understanding of how engineers work within organisations, projects and multidisciplinary teams.
By the end of the module, you will have greater confidence in your professional identity and your ability to contribute effectively in engineering environments. The skills developed will support your academic success, enhance your employability and provide a foundation for lifelong professional development.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Partial CEng Programme Level Learning Outcomes
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Analyse the performance of your marine vessel against design expectations and customer requirements. (Part 1 Induction Activity)
- Manage meetings more effectively with tools such as Gantt, agenda, minutes etc to better run group working (IPD)
- Use workshops to evaluate impact of bias and personality types for group working and effective communications. Exposure to practicing engineers and opportunity for open forum and individual discussions (Panel sessions)
- Apply effective management techniques, e.g. more cohesive team work and communication, to better understand personality types to reduce risk of volatile working relationships that could create security risks, and discuss data storage practices, e.g. using a central Teams drive for storing work, and the impact of mismanagement of work and thus using these practices when in industry to reduce security risks.
- Review different communication styles and how these can be utilised in different situations for different audiences, and the pros and cons of said styles (IPD) Understand and observe how professional engineers conduct themselves in situations such as panel discussions, and expectations for communications e.g. going for interview (Panel sessions)
- Understanding of management techniques, both technical and interpersonal (IPD ) Understanding of commercial practices and industry challenges (Panel sessions)
- Recognise the challenges faced to address ED&I and the importance that the issues must be tackled to improve engineering practices, and the continuous development of self (through CPD) and others (through team working practices) (IPD)
- Review engineering practices to accommodate differences in diversity, inclusion, and codes of practice, by improving group collaboration between different backgrounds (gender, financial, geographical) and thus improving design solutions. You will also be more aware of industrial standards regarding ED&I. Communicate with professional engineers regarding their career experiences and industrial practices (Panel sessions)
- Utilise CAD, spreadsheets and coding to develop, predict and analyse your marine vessel's performance. (Part 1 Induction Activity)
- Understand benefits of CPD and impact on professional practices and qualifications such as chartership. Start a CPD log and develop with courses provided.
- A better understanding of societal issues regarding engineering and that solving solutions with diverse teams will produce solutions that are effective for a wider variety of applications.
- Apply management techniques to reduce risk for producing engineering solutions (e.g. group coursework), such as Gantt charts, agendas, minutes, and personality management
- Gain better understanding of ethical issues arising from ED&I and how they can affect professional engineering practices and codes of conduct
- Work more effectively in diverse teams, and understand the power of collaboration. Discuss the challenges associated with ED&I in the workplace and how to effectively manage. Understand the diverse nature if the workplace, through exposure to various engineers and their career discussions, and have opportunity to discuss challenges and skills to manage (Panel sessions).
- Apply engineering principles of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking and challenge perception and bias in initial design work.
- Apply a better integrated approach with peers and others, through concepts of meeting management, communication skills, and inclusivity, which will better allow solution of complex problems
- Apply fundamental knowledge of mathematics and engineering principles in the preliminary design of a marine vessel. (Part 1 Induction Activity)
- Apply engineering principles of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking, by working more effectively in groups. Gain better understanding of self, through personality testing, communication, meeting management and own skills identification, and of others, through group working and meeting management techniques.
- Research and be inspired by existing vessel types to provide candidate solutions to your design problem. Research electric motor and propeller performance suitable for your marine vessel design. (Part 1 Induction Activity)
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- Review and comprehend different articles relating to personality types and how this affects communication, collaborative working, and management tools.
Syllabus
Activities are available for all years unless stated:
Design, Build and Test: Induction Week Activity (Part 1 only).
Introduction to Continuous Professional Development (CPD).
Workshop on identifying conscious and unconscious bias.
Workshop on personality type testing and identifying learning styles, and impact on communication.
Workshop on group working, including perception bias, group characters, meeting management, and common conflicts in university group work and how to resolve them.
Workshop on skills including writing a meeting agenda, chairing a meeting, effective minute taking and how to approach difficult conversations with your boss and line management.
Maritime Industry Panel event on Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity.
Maritime careers panel events, highlighting different paths that maritime engineering graduates have taken.
Regular careers events and talks.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
There will be a number of open format, interactive workshops with opportunities to reflect on lessons learned.
There will be group working workshops, including for Part 1, an opportunity in Induction Week to get to design, build and test a maritime vessel.
Industry panel Q&A events
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 8 |
| Workshops | 19 |
| Total study time | 27 |
Assessment
Assessment strategy
This is a non-compulsory formative assessment module. At the end of their programmes, students will have a record of which events they attended and engaged with. This will help provide evidence of initial professional development upon graduation as students embark on their journey of continuous professional development throughout their careers.Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.
Attendance and engagement
- Assessment Type: Formative
- Feedback: Directly through attending and engaging in activities, workshops and seminars
- Final Assessment: No
- Group Work: No
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal