Work in progress — Web-based screen movie presentations as part of a professionalism course in chemical engineering

Over the last few years we have reported on a research program focusing on the use of online screen movies as a content delivery mechanism, and in particular, as a mechanism for use in high enrollment, lecture-laboratory courses. In the current report we begin a new thread in our research program: the use of online screen movies created by students as an exercise in building communication skills. In a junior level chemical engineering course on professionalism in the College of Engineering, Michigan State University, one of the course goals focuses on fulfilling ABET criteria for developing effective student oral communication skills. We augmented the traditional live presentation setting with student assignments to create a web-based presentation. Although preliminary, initial data suggests that the two types of presentations augment one another; students report skills learned in creating voice over screen presentations helped them be better traditional oral presenters, and vice versa.