Describes a civil engineering program at Aston University that integrates successfully the development of communication skills with technical training. Explains how the course on Public Sector Planning includes instruction and student work in written, oral, and decision-making skills. (KEH)

Individual students in two different sections of an undergraduate civil engineering laboratory were tasked with preparing three professional-quality laboratory reports. The teaching assistant and/or instructor used established criteria to grade the first two reports prepared by students in one section. The first two reports prepared by students in…