Strategies to improve the teaching and learning of Technical Report Writing in Accra Polytechnic
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Date
2001-12-13
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Abstract
The Language and Liberal Studies Department has been tasked to teach Technical Report Writing to Engineering students in Accra polytechnic in particular and the Polytechnics of Ghana in general.
Unfortunately, however, lesson delivery has suffered some set-backs for two main reasons:
a. An unclear course definition in the existing teaching document.
b. The instructor’s own short-comings in terms of knowledge of the various aspects of the course.
The researcher decided to improve upon her practice through Action Research. The main problems which came out in the research were the fact that the existing course outline:
a. fails to give a course description
b. provide unclear course content.
AS a result, teachers of the course who are basically teachers of English language have been compelled to teach the course anyhow they see fit.
What this study sought to do was:
a. to involve all the Stakeholders in the Engineering programme particularly Industry and teachers to design a new teaching document which —
i. describes the course and
ii. States the course content more clearly
b. Involve these Stakeholders in lesson delivery or Team Teaching. in doing this, the research has addressed the difficulty faced by the teacher of English in terms of having to teach specific Technical reports in Engineering.
The proposed teaching document was piloted on Building Engineering students of the Accra Polytechnic.
The main findings that came out in the study include the need for a collaborative effort on the part of all the stakeholders of the Engineering programme to agree on the teaching strategies that would enhance lesson delivery on the various topics in the new teaching document. On the basis of these findings, the researcher recommends continuous research and evaluation of the existing course outlines being used for teaching in the various departments of the Polytechnics of Ghana.
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A Thesis submitted
to the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Technical Education, 2001