2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Technical skills may get you hired, but professional skills get you promoted. For decades, program evaluation surveys have emphasized the need for improved student communication skills -- from intrapersonal communication to public speaking. However, even after adding required technical writing and communication courses, those survey responses stayed the same. Scaffolding students to develop polished professional skills is a core component of our NSF:IUSE/RED curriculum transformation. The new curriculum shifts communication training from one course in the first year to distributed training and practice from the sophomore through senior years within the civil engineering courses. To supplement our public speaking instruction, we have adopted software that creates a virtual audience for students to practice delivering presentations. Students must practice their presentations three times within the system to achieve total participation points. Feedback is presented to students after each attempt, including eye contact, pitch, volume, use of filler words and long pauses.
This study investigates the impact of AI-powered public speaking software on the performance of civil engineering students in their sophomore and senior years. The research draws upon data indicating that students who engage with the software through multiple sessions achieve higher scores in their final presentations. A multiple regression model is employed, revealing that the software explains approximately 26% variation in final presentation scores. Notably, while the time spent in the software has a small but significant negative effect on estimated final scores, the number of sessions completed positively influences these scores. This finding suggests that the frequency of engagement with the software outweighs the cumulative time spent. The study also considers the roles of students' conceptual scores and final grades as additional predictors.
In summary, this research offers insights into the shifting landscape of communication instruction within engineering education, emphasizing the potential of AI-powered tools to enhance student performance in public speaking, thus bridging the gap between technical expertise and professional communication skills.