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Confidence in Communication Skills
As mentioned above, Rowan’s engineering program integrates communication skills
into its required engineering clinic in the sophomore year, thus making a concerted effort
to minimize advantages of any student over the other in terms of being able to make
coherent and professional presentations of their work. The data on self-confidence in
communication skills at the various level of the program suggests that they are successful
in this endeavor (Figure IID-5). It is fairly well accepted that female students tend to
have stronger verbal and written communication skills than male students, and this is
reflected in the stronger communication self-confidence of female first-year students as
they enter Rowan, compared to males. This stronger self-confidence is apparent at the
beginning of the sophomore year, as well. However, after most students have had
sophomore clinic, where communication skills are emphasized, the gender gap is much
smaller: juniors and seniors have much smaller gender differences in this respect than in
the earlier years. At the beginning of their senior year, females have slightly more
communication self-confidence than males, but the gap is much smaller than in the first
or second years of the program.
IID-136