The course had two parts, the communications section and design section. Communications focused on academic writing while design focused on using research skills developed in communications to propose a solution to some problem. Communications was heavy on essays and shorter writing assignments, with occasional marked in-class components. Design labs were initially a series of team activities practicing concepts covered in plenary lectures, and were later dedicated to the design project. The project felt like almost too much work on top of everything in the communications section, but with an efficient team was manageable. The plenary lectures (with Flavio Firmani) were dry, and, since all notes were posted on Brightspace, somewhat optional.

Communications covered academic writing and research and fulfills the academic writing requirement. The research skills in particular were helpful the next term in ENGR120. Design covered the early stages of the engineering design process, which again was useful in ENGR120.

Prof. Collins was very kind and seemed to really care about our success. They were generous with marks and flexible on deadlines. Email response times were always quick, and setting up appointments for getting help on assignments in person was an easy process.

Don't ever skip communications lectures without ensuring you won't miss a marked group activity. Give yourself lots of time to complete writing assignments and research.

Class in itself is not bad, very writing and report heavy, but nothing very hard. Monika Smith on the other hand is the worst prof I have ever had in my life, I would just avoid having her if you can. She is very vague on what she expects, and I felt like on any assignment I could get 50-100% depending on how she was feeling when marking it. She is also very boring so It was hard to pay attention for the entire class without falling asleep. The class in itself is not a lot of work and most assignments can be left until the day of so you can prioritize harder classes, the report at the end takes a bit of time so make sure you plan out time to work on it.

Avoid Monika Smith