| workshops
CONNECT is a workshop-based
program aimed at improving undergraduate engineering students' understanding
of effective communication and providing experiential training in communication
skills. Its genesis lies in the communication training provided to employees
in the corporate world and in the study of performance techniques that
are part of theatrical training.
The program is designed
to complement and enhance the professional development of students in
their first two years at the Cooper Union and to augment project-based
engineering courses in their last two years. Most students attend at
least six intensive workshops over their four-year experience. Each
workshop is attended by up to 15 students and lasts a maximum of 3 hours.
The workshops begin
with an experience in the fundamental issues of effective communication
in the first year of an undergraduate career at Cooper. This study of
Individual Skills is an exploration of communication skills
for each workshop participant. This workshop introduces our undergraduates
to the CONNECT Program and the issue of effective communication.
Following the Individual
Skills Workshop, the students transition to a sequence of workshops
that deal more specifically with "Elements of Communication."
These "elements" include voice, body, content and groups.
Junior and senior
students attend workshops that explore advanced practical applications
of the skills and elements focused on previously. Professors either
assign students to attend a "Communication in Practice" workshop
or invite CONNECT to conduct one of these workshops in class. The topics
vary from video presentations, to the study of body movement, to the
effective use of pre-written speeches and notes.
CONNECT’s flexible
structure allows us to develop new workshops when additional needs and
opportunities arise.
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Individual
Skills Workshop
The Individual
Skills Workshop is based around one-minute impromptu speeches, each
workshop member is given a randomly selected topic that involves some
"technical" elements. This intense, artificially stressful situation
highlights specific issues with each individual. The workshop participants
discuss the presentation effectiveness and audience response, NOT the
speech content. Workshop facilitators devise exercises, on the spot,
to help the speaker address those issues and develop mechanisms to enhance
their strengths and overcome their weaknesses.
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Elements
of Communication
Participants attend
a workshop focusing either on voice, body, content or groups. Each workshop
explores common elements of effective communication via one of these
mechanisms. Students develop an understanding of the behavioral aspects
of effective communication.
Vocal Expression
Students explore
the expressive potential of the voice in a variety of communication
situations. Producing even elementary sounds with the proper energy
is demonstrated to have great communicative value. Participants explore
how to use the breath effectively, the impact of posture on speech,
and simple relaxation techniques to enhance their vocal expression.
Physical Expression
This experiential
workshop engages the students in different types of physical communication,
including gesture, touch, posture, facial expression, and relating to
space. In addition, participants delve into the physical differences
between individual, pair and group expression.
Expression
of Content
Participants are
coached in flexible and effective approaches to organizing material
efficiently, logically and persuasively. The emphasis is on how best
to meet the needs and expectations of a given audience in relation to
a particular topic. The approaches included one that is currently in
use in business and corporate training programs.
Group Expression
Students experience
what it means to communicate both within a group (to each other) and
as a group (to an audience). An engaging series of exercises increases
participants' awareness of the options available to a team of communicators.
The emphasis is on teamwork and the techniques they may use to organize,
allocate and present content effectively.
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Communication
in Practice
Specialized workshops
focus on either an advanced communication issue such as studying non-verbal
communication in depth or an important communication issue in the workplace
such as negotiation. These workshops are typically assigned by professors
of appropriate junior and/or senior classes as a course requirement.
Movement Counts
Examines issues
revolving around gestures, physical attitude, appearance, facial expression
and "integrated movement". Students learn to exploit their natural gestures
and physical expressiveness through role-playing and exercises to give
each member an understanding of their innate ability to enhance their
communication by using natural gestures and body language. The workshop
focuses on either decision-making, conflict resolution or intercultural
situations as a basis for the participants' exploration.
Speeches and
Notes: Reading Allowed
What happens when,
with only a short time to spare, the original presenter is forced to
cancel due to illness or a transportation breakdown? How does one deal
with a pre-written speech, notes scribbled on a legal pad, or key points
on a set of index cards? This workshop acquaints students with time-proven
techniques of how to "cold read" a hitherto unfamiliar text
without seeming unprepared or losing an audience’s attention. Participants
learn to effectively "cold read" speeches drawn from business,
politics, literature, American history and professional engineering.
Writing
Inside The Box
Participants explore
the communication expectations of diverse workplace audiences, including
technical, managerial and executive. By writing, fine-tuning and presenting
technical findings and proposals under strict spatial and temporal conditions
(“the box”), they become more aware of how such variables
as word choice, length, form and structure can be adjusted to more effectively
reach each audience. They are forced to make difficult choices as they
confront how to address professional cultures whose values and priorities
may be different than their own.
Who
Do You Want To Be?
This workshop serves
as a review and enhancement of the discoveries upper-class students
have made about their personal communication styles during their time
at Cooper Union. By identifying and imitating the qualities and skills
of well-known communicators whom they admire, students discover that
they possess previously unrecognized abilities to enhance those aspects
of their own style that they themselves feel would benefit from additional
work.
Video
Presentation Review
Under the guidance
of an experienced facilitator, participants review their own past presentations
as recorded on video, seeing and assessing themselves as both individual
and team presenters. They take away a non-prescriptive checklist designed
to help them apply what they have learned from their observations and
self-evaluations.
You and a
Camera
How do you give
an effective presentation when all there is in the room is you and a
video camera? Workshop members have the opportunity to give short presentations
in an isolated studio while the other participants watch on a large
video screen. Students gain an intense exposure to the constraints of
video and the challenge of giving an energetic, expressive and effective
presentation using this medium.
Expert Witness
Examines the communication
issues involved in being an expert witness. Participants explore the
presentation of technical information to a lay audience, the jury, in
this specialized circumstance. Workshop members experience being the
focus of attention for the adversaries in a courtroom and the challenge
of being true to their scientific and engineering knowledge in that
situation.
Negotiation
The workshop deals
with the communication aspects of negotiation rather than negotiation
techniques. Students role play negotiation scenarios so they can understand
the combination of language, body posture, table configuration etc.,
that can come to bear in a negotiation.
Conflict Resolution
Conflict often
arises from poor communication between parties. In this workshop the
faciltator guides the students through various scenarios to identify
issues at the root of a conflict and explore how effective communication
can help with its resolution.
Exercises
in Communication Awareness
Effective communication
is often a simple matter of awareness. How does one assess what is going
on in a given act of communication, be it a one-on-one conversation,
a group discussion, or a formal presentation? A series of experiential
exercises encourage participants to develop a deeper everyday awareness
of what is working or not working in favor of good communication. Students
explore the communication potential of graphic images, the pitfalls
of communicating something that one knows to be false, and how to intervene
in an attempt at communication that has gone awry.
Customized
Communication Training
Sometimes, an engineering
course has specialized communication needs. This may involve class presentations,
communication between members of a research team, or issues surrounding
the new global environment. CONNECT provides customized in-class communication
training for such courses. Techniques include individualized and team
presentation coaching, expert review of videotaped presentations, and
adaptation of our standard workshops to address particular course materials
and concerns.
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