Communication Skills for Computer Students

CSC 290 Communication Skills for Computer Scientists This undergraduate credit course is offered once a year in the fall at the St. George Campus of the University of Toronto.  Classes are run as three-hour workshops one night a week and class size is limited.  Due to budget squeezes, this course is currently not offered.

Calendar Description Targeted instruction and significant practice in the communication skills required for careers in computer science. The curriculum covers written, oral, and interpersonal communication. Students will hand in short pieces of writing each week and make oral presentations using interactive multimedia web technology.  Interpersonal communications classes are designed to give students insight into their current habits and new skills for working with others.  By the end of the semester, students complete research papers on CS topics and collaborate with a team to present their findings.   

Course Description and Philosophy An article describing the way speaking, writing, and interpersonal communication are taught this course can be found in the Proceedings of the 14th Annual ACM SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education.  The pdf can be found here.

Course Website Former CSC 290 student, Max Drozd created a website for the Fall 2009 course.  If you are interested in taking this class, you can look at the website and see the articles posted and the links to all websites referred to in the course activity book.   http://csc290.ca/

Epresence Videos Students make five short presentations over the term and one group presentation.  These are all captured digitally and posted here:  http://epresence.kmdi.utoronto.ca/8/page/Published.aspx Some of the videos can be see without a password and are still visible on this site. This process allows students to review their presentations.  The website has a feedback feature in which the students tag specific moments and comment on those moments in response to questions posed by the professor and TA. 

Student Comments 

Following a workshop for Bitmaker's Labs in Toronto, student Ian King wrote this blog.  

"CSC 290 will never fall from my my memory because I use one (if not more) of Lil's lessons on a regular basis. "Never talk in absolutes" is my mantra these days.  Qualifying my statements in a more realistic way makes life seem so much more manageable and positive. No longer do I "always mess up," think that "this will never work," or feel that my friends "always do this."  May, 2011
Justin Commu took CSC 290 in the Fall 2007 semester.  He is now living in the Caribbean and working as a systems integration engineer, designing real time billing systems and deploying them at customer sites.
 
 
 

"I wanted to thank you for offering this course, making this course available, bringing this course into the "light of day."  In the past few days, I have applied a few techniques I learned from this course throughout the summer.  The ones I used the most often are I-Messages and Responding Non-Defensively.  I have to say, they _really_ worked!  I am putting myself in the other's shoes and picturing the scenario in their position.  I've had to reply to some comments and my replies weren't rushed.  I liked this course because I actually learned things I can apply directly in my life."   Dritan Xhabija   August 23, 2007

 "I have been meaning to tell you this story about my application of interpersonal skills.  I went to a salon to have my hair cut the day after CSC290 exam.  The barber looked very annoyed while I was detailing the hairstyle I desired and he just started cutting my hair before I even finished.  I stopped him right away and I said: "Can you tell me why you seem so unhappy?”  He then told me his frustration with customers who are too demanding about their hair styles.  Then I said: "So you think I don’t trust you and you feel hurt. Is that why you were so annoyed?” He replied: “Yeah” and the haircut went very well from that point on.  What’s even more amazing is that I said those lines almost unconsciously.  I felt like those words just slipped out of my mouth."  Eric Yao, January 13, 2009
 


"Lil is a dynamic lecturer.  Her course, communication skills for computer scientists, has helped me transform my career from a software engineer, to a project manager, to an entrepreneur. She taught me how to manage perceptions, how to communicate the "I" message instead of the "You" accusation, and how to assert myself non-defensively.  These skills have helped me build and manage my personal brand and client relationships effectively. Lil has equipped me well to achieve my goals and I cannot imagine success without the skills she taught me in that course."  http://danielchu.wordpress.com/bio/

Daniel Chu President and CEO SilkStart Technology Inc.

Testimontials

"The most important thing I learned in Lil's class is that talking is easy, communicating is hard. And you can’t fake it. Trust me. I’ve tried. Now I know what you’re all thinking: what a great-looking and confident guy. I wish I was him. And it’s true: I’ve always been a pretty confident guy. But I learned that being confident, and communicating confidence, are two very different things. To be confident, all you have to do is believe in yourself. Easy. To communicate confidence, you have to get your audience to believe in you. That’s a little harder. The only way to communicate confidence is to be authentic. To be real. Steve Jobs makes it look effortless. But what this course has taught me is that being real in front of a roomful of people takes a lot of practice. And you will never get a better chance to practice than in CSC 290."

Adi Isakovic, Entrepreneur
Founder of TubeMote

"I was the nursing educator in an LTC residence.  The most senior nurse was always pleasant to me, but when I asked her to do something, she often did not respond.  Sometimes she followed through, sometimes not.  If I sent her an email, it was not acknowledged.  One day there was a problem which required some immediate investigation.  She did nothing, so I investigated the problem, and thenordered her to do a physical assessment of the resident.  She did the assessment, but not until hours later.  The manager wanted to discipline her.  I asked the manager to hold off and to let me tackle the situation.  I decided that this woman would not want to talk with me face to face – that would be too confrontational.  I emailed her.  I reviewed what had happened from my perspective and then I applied a technique I had learned in Lil’sCommunicating Nondefensively workshop -- I put myself in her shoes and tried to imagine how she saw the situation: “I wonder if you felt that I did not acknowledge your experience and knowledge.  Here I come in, a new person, and I am telling you what to do.  It must have felt as if I had no respect for your many years here.  Is that it?  I would like to apologize right now for that.  I think you are a good nurse."  (I supplied some examples of good work I had witnessed.)  "I also think you care about our residents."  (More examples.)  "I need to learn from you if I am to do a good job.”  It seemed to work – she thawed and became more responsive. 
Wendy MacDougall, BScN, Nurse Educator.