B.E. (Biomedical Engineering) Professional Communication and Ethics Lab Syllabus - Mumbai University

Module 1: Fundamentalsof Communication

• 1.1 Situational Application of Fundamentals of Communication
• 1.2 Case Studies on Fundamentals of Communication

Module 2: Developing Basic Listening Skills

• 2.1 Listening for Details
• Listen to a song and fill in the blanks, Listen to a telephonic conversation and fill in the blanks, Listen to a story/lecture/podcast and fill in the blanks, Listen to a monologue and complete the sentences
• 2.2 Listening for Gist
• Listen to an audio recording and identify the gist/main idea/theme in the form of MCQs or True/False statements
• 2.3 Listening for Inference
• Listen to short passages and draw inferences in the form of MCQs or True/False statements
• 2.4 Listening Comprehension Exercises in the Language Lab or on Open Source Platforms
• Listening to a telephonic conversation, Listen to a Podcast Examples of the Activities That Can Be Done under the Above 4 Heads: Listen to a Formal Speech
• Martin Luther King Jr.,
• Swami Vivekananda
• Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam
• John F. Kennedy
• Mr.Ratan Tata
• Steve Jobs Note-taking & Designing Quizzes
• Listen to a lecture, take notes and prepare a quiz for others Dictations
• Take old-fashioned dictation with special focus on punctuations and spellings Draw a Story
• Listen to a descriptive passage read out by the teacher on a scenery/item and draw a picture based on what you hear Labelling a Map, Plan, Diagram, Table & Flow Charts
• Listen to your teacher and write labels on a plan (e.g. of a building ), map (e.g. of part of a town ) diagram (e.g. of a piece of equipment), table (e.g. place/time/price), flow chart (e.g. a process which has clear stages).

3 Developing Basic Speaking Skills

• 3.1 Conversational Activities Monologues
• Introducing yourself, Introducing others, One-minute impromptu speeches, Scaffolded story telling
• 3.2 Conversational Activities Dialogues
• Role plays on everyday interactions, Interviews (Find out if…), Information Gap Activities, Picture descriptions and feedback, Situational conversations.
• 3.3 Conversational Activities Pronunciation, Stress and Rhythm, Intonation
• Neutralisation of accent, Word stress, Rhythm & Pauses, Tonal variations/inflections Suggested Examples of Functional Communication Activities That Can Be Done under the Above 3 Heads:
• Asking for and giving information
• Taking initiative
• Seeking and giving favour/offers
• Requesting and responding to requests
• Apologizing and forgiving
• Seeking and giving permission
• Congratulating people on their success
• Expressing opinions, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements
• Expressing condolences
• Asking questions and responding politely
• Giving instructions
• Agreeing and disagreeing
• Asking for and giving advice and suggestions
• Expressing sympathy
• Using mobile phone
• Live commentary on videos on mute
• Debates

4 Developing Basic Reading Skills

• 4.1 Verbal Aptitude Reading Fluency & Comprehension Monitoring
• Reading short/long passages to answer MCQs based on factual, general and inferential comprehension skills
• Reading short/long passages to answer MCQs based on factual, general and inferential comprehension skills (Passages should be of a technical nature and minimum length of passages should be 350-400 words)
• 4.2 Vocabulary Building Activities Examples of Word Games:
• Crosswords
• Bingo
• Word Ladders
• Hangman
• Word Association
• 4.3 Reading & Summarisation Skills
• Summarising text to Graphic Organisers and visa-versa o Venn diagrams o Radial Diagrams (Mindmaps) o Tree Diagrams o Cyclic Diagrams o Flow Charts o Timelines o Matrix (Tables) o Pyramids
• Summarising text in bullet points
• Summarising text in one-sentence central idea

5 Developing Basic Writing Skills

• 5.1 Mechanics of Writing - Paragraph Writing
• Building paragraphs developing coherence ( Structure of written pieces, CSI Order of Organisation )
• Coherence ( Structure of written pieces, CSI Order of Organisation )
• Cohesive Devices (Referencing, Repetition, Substitution, Ellipsis, Transition Signals).
• Structure of a Paragraph (Topic Sentence, Supporting Ideas, Concluding Sentence ).
• 5.2 Write Letters and eMails
• Request/Permission Letter
• Claim & Adjustment Letter
• Sales Letter (Complete Block format applying the seven Cs) ● eMails USE ONLY COMPLETE BLOCK FORMAT
• 5.3 Writing User Instructions on: Examples:
• Installing a software
• Ordering food on delivery apps (Zomato, Swiggy)
• Using payment system (Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm)
• Using AI Tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, ZeroGPT and GPTZero)
• Electronic Devices/ Gadget (Gaming Console, Smartwatch)
• Home Appliances (Mixer-Grinder, Microwave Oven, Air Fryer)
• Tools (Chisel, Screw-driver)
• 5.4 Content Creation for Social Media and e-Commerce Platforms Examples
• Blogs
• Poetry
• Keynote speeches
• Podcast Titles
• Landing Pages
• Social media posts
• YouTube Video Description
• Screenwriting/Script Writing (Ensure minimum 3 of these categories are covered in the form of competitions)

6 Ethical and Managerial Skills for Engineers

• 6.1 Ethics
• Case Studies on Ethical dilemma
• 6.2 Team building Examples
• Newspaper Bridges/ Towers/ Dress Building
• Best out of waste
• Obstacle Race

Nos.

• Details

Module 5: Assignment on Writing Must include 3 types of letters from Module 5 Skills

Module 6: Application-based Case studies on ethical dilemma from Module 6 Assignment on Ethics

References

• 1 Communication Skills by Sanjay Kumar & Pushp Lata
• 2 Business Communication with Writing Improvement Exercises. Hemphill, McCormick and Hemphill
• 3 Business Communication: Building Critical Skills by Locker, Kitty O. Kaczmarek, Stephen Kyo
• 4 Effective Business Communication by Herta Murphy
• 5 Technical Communication: Principles and Practice by Raman and Sharma
• 6 Effective Technical Communication: A Guide for Scientists and Engineers by Rizvi
• 7 Oxford Guide to Effective Writing & Speaking by John Seely
• 8 English Grammar by Raymond Murphy 9. Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis Online