Exclusion: MMAN4000
Professional Engineering and Communication is a subject designed to expose and involve students in a wide variety of topics and tasks which will be of lasting use going into Industrial Training, the final year thesis, and beyond that, a career in engineering. This course focuses on the non-technical aspects of engineering practice that centre around communication, ethical considerations, and professional conduct. Skills relating to problem solving, research, team working, and project planning and basic management will developed to standards expected of graduates entering the workplace - students are then expected to utilise and build on these skills in their final year to provide them with high-level skills that will make them sought after in the employment market.

Despite their non-technical nature, the concepts involved in this course are just as challenging as those that are involved in the technical analyses with which most engineering students are more familiar. A professional engineer can expect to find herself or himself working on several memos, reports and presentations at any given time - it is an essential part of performing effectively in industry. Therefore many tasks will be undertaken, some short and relatively simple, with others more complex and nuanced, partly reflecting the timelines and pressures of the working envinroment and providing an opportunity to work in different teams on different tasks. Analysis of team structures and interpersonal communication also forms part of the course, as aspects of teamworking such as leadership, conflict resolution, managing differing technical skill levels and cultural backgrounds are vital in professional practice and must be appreciated as useful skills for the engineer.

The centrepiece of the course is a group research project on an area pertinent to modern engineering and Australia in particular - the general field will be allocated and students organised into small (~5) groups. The students will then choose a specific topical area to research - based on a proposal they submit to tutors for evaluation - as if they were providing a report to a client or senior management. This research and report will incorporate many of the aspects touched upon in lectures as applied to the chosen area. A seminar-style group presentation will be held late in the course where each group member will participate in communicating the findings to their peers.

Simultaneously, and within this framework, each individual student will pick an area of very specific technical relevance to the broader area of research, and compile and submit a technical report. It is expected that this report will encompass more scientific literature and narrow, state-of-the-art concepts, that nevertheless relate to and feed back into the group report.

These main tasks and affiliated exercises comprise 55% of the course mark.

A formal quiz on concepts introduced in lectures will be held as a mid-semester test - this will cover areas of project management, planning and aspects of teamworking psychology, and will be worth 10%. It is the only formal exam in the course.

Small tasks also worth marks include - creating a CV for yourself, evaluating your personality type, creating a professional online presence, making a short video presentation on a topic entirely of your choosing, and attendance at specific (but not all) lectures and tutorials.

The remainder of marks for the course (15%) are centred around an exercise involving some of the ethical dilemmas that arise in engineering practice - student will be arranged into small groups, different from those of the research task, and asked to investigate a case study scenario that will have no clear right or wrong. They will then be asked to prepare arguments supporting a prosecution or defence case, from an engineering perspective with the student in the role of an expert witness, and some groups will be asked to participate in a mock court case while others will act as observers. Students will submit a report on their investigation as well as reflection on the court case and its implications.

Tasks and assessments are designed to be frequent and varied, ensuring a relatively even workload that does not greatly favour one specific mode of achieving high marks (i.e. revising for a set-content exam) - students will be expected to self-develop excellent time management skills in the process of the course.

In later weeks, guest lectures will be given from industry professionals on the topics of intellectual property, patents, careers, employment issues and other areas of interest for students preparing to enter the workforce.

MMAN3000 is delivered in semester 2 as a mixture of lectures and interactive tutorials, and attendance for some components is mandatory. The course is a pre-requisite for MMAN4010, BIOM5001, and MMAN4020.