Students will gain practical experience in learning to communicate effectively in situations consistent with current
design organisations. They will learn a set of core skills such as presentation and report writing as well as effective oral communication methods tailored specifically for the role of product designers. These skills are integrated with developing effective IT competency such as MS Office applications, video skills, file/folder management systems, and portfolio development skills. Students will work individually, and in teams, and actively engage through practical exercises addressing real-life situations.
Effective Communication:
- 4 primary skills of communication - active listening and feedback
- Ten steps for effective communication
- Perception & non-verbal communication signals
- Behaviours & communication styles (assertive styles; proactive, direct/spirited/considerate/systematic)
- Technology and tools
- File naming and folder naming strategies
- Storage Devices and DIT Network storage
- Online/Cloud storage and backup procedures and workflows
- Word Processing - Formatting, indents & tabs, page setup, breaks, headers & footers, page numbering,
- images, equations, bullets & numbering, tables, diagrams, references and hyperlinks
- Spreadsheets - Spreadsheet management, labels/value/calculations, cell referencing, formatting, relative
- and absolute referencing, operators, functions, sorting, charts
- Presentations - Presentation file management, slides, formats, header & footer setup with slide
- numbering, additional content (images, tables, diagrams) slide transitions, custom slide animations
- Video Editing – Media formats, editing tools, transitions and effects, compression algorithms, local/online
- storage and playback
- Portfolio/Brochure Development – Differentiating portfolio content vs technical report, layout guidelines,
- content guidelines
Written Communication:
- Language
- Email etiquette
- Report planning
- Research methods, strategies and supporting tools
- Referencing, paraphrasing & plagiarism
Oral Presentations:
- Planning & researching the presentation
- Designing and creating the visual aspects
- Delivering the presentation
- Answering questions
Group Skills:
- Teamwork:
- Stages in group development
- Roles & Responsibilities
- 6 skills for effective teamwork
- Conflict resolution
- Project Management Fundamentals
- Project definition
- Planning & scheduling
- progress tracking and risk
- assessment & mitigation
- Managing scope creep
- Managing effective team meetings:
- 3 phases of meeting management
- roles & duties of chairperson,
- meeting documentation
- dealing with difficult individuals
