Exploring the Impact of Using Resnik's 4P Framework in the Curriculum Development of an Engineering Communication Course

This research-to-practice full paper studies the different approaches to curriculum development in both Engineering and Humanities courses and explores how the role of having an integrated narrative structure in the Personal Communication course for undergraduates impacts student learning. The Personal Communication course offered to engineering students in the undergraduate program is part of the larger interdisciplinary initiative of a technology university to develop engineering graduates with a strong social presence and effective communication skills. This course has been taught using different pedagogies to two different batches of engineering students. For the control group (first batch, semester 4), the course was taught by focusing on various personal communication capacities and skills independent of each other. Each capacity, for example, empathy, was taken as an end in itself and skills required to acquire empathy were taught. Five capacities in all were taught (Intentionality, Relationality, Empathy, Articulation, and Composition). However, for the experiment group (second batch, semester 2) a new pedagogy was devised which was based on the premise that if these capacities are conceptually linked and cumulatively built through a narrative structure over the course then, engineers will be less apathetic to learning a non-technical communication course. Resnik's 4P framework was employed as the foundation for the curriculum development of the Personal Communication course. While Resnik's 4P framework has previously been utilized in the educational journey of K-12 students, its application within a university context has never been done. This research on our innovative curriculum design, inspired by Resnik's framework, argues that the narrative strength of Resnik's 4P framework offers an inherent coherence and internal rationality to the Personal Communication course. This, in turn, positively influences student learning outcomes, thus marking a pivotal advancement in the field of educational methodology. This study uses a between-subjects research design and gathers data from engineering students, by looking at their course performance. Additionally, it also uses a 5-point Likert Scale and a subjective questionnaire to assess student perception of course curriculum and its impact on teaching personal communication capacities.