Synoptic Engineering

Introduction
This module aims to embed your understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a
practising civil engineer. Working in groups, a solution for an urban or rural development will
be proposed and the necessary materials prepared for mock public consultation meeting. You
will apply engineering judgement and skills to propose a solution that you believe to be
workable; and use communication skills (written and oral) to prepare a consultation strategy,
deliver a presentation and answer questions typical of those raised at a public enquiry.
By the end of the module you should be able to:

Prepare a proposed development scheme within the brief supplied

Prepare written, presentation and oral communications as required by the ICE
competition, suitable for a public audience, and answer questions typical of those
raised by the public.
Prepare written and oral communications suitable for a technical audience across
Civil Engineering
Reflect upon and explain your individual contribution and decision-making process,
justifying your communication and (where relevant) engineering choices.

Some groups may go on to take part in this years ICE Communications Competition
(https://www.ice.org.uk/careers-and-professional-development/graduate-civilengineers/graduate-awards-and-competitions#communications). More details will be
provided during the module week.

Lecturers: MRT - Professor Miles Tight, JI - Dr J Illingsworth, JN - Professor John Nolan

Assessors: Dr S Sharifi; Dr A Royal; Dr J. Illingsworth; Dr A. Quinn; Dr M. Burrow; Prof M. Tight

Assessments
The assessment for this module is detailed below. Professor Miles Tight is the module coordinator (Room S22; e-mail m.r.tight@bham.ac.uk). The task of each team is to select one of
five pre-prepared engineering scheme proposal scenarios and to:
(1) Prepare a consultation strategy: in no more than 200 words and 1 side of A4 imagining you
were doing the scenario for real, aiming to take the project from inception through to
implementation, state what your overall strategy for consultation and community involvement
would be.
(2) Produce a public information leaflet: produce a leaflet to support your public consultation
meeting. The leaflet should be a maximum two sides of A4 in size including any cover or title
page.
(3) Make a presentation and gather information at a role play public consultation meeting
(4) Individual essay (1000 words) covering two aspects. Part (1) a review of the workings of the
group, examining: (i) What went well, examples of good practice; (ii) What did not work
particularly well, and (iii) how things could have been improved. Part (2) will critically assess
the ethical issues for your groups scenario.
The presentation element should last a maximum of 20 minutes. Each team will be required to
answer questions, respond to comments for 10 minutes. Each group will hold the floor for a
maximum of 30 minutes. You can make any assumption necessary about detail in any of the
scenarios but you may not change broad parameters or adopt a different scenario to that outlined.

Submissions
(1) All group work, namely presentation slides, leaflets and consultation strategy must be
submitted by 11pm Thursday 6th October, via CANVAS.
(2) Individual essays should be submitted by 11pm Sunday 23rd October, via CANVAS.

Mark breakdown
The modules marks are broken down as follows: Group work (40%) and Individual work (60%)
These are made up of:
(1) Marked as a group: Public consultation strategy document (10%); Public consultation leaflet
(20%); Presentation (30%) and Q&A at simulated public consultation (40%)
(2) Marked individually: Individual essay (60%)
When assessing group work the key aspects are:
clarity in communication

coverage of issues raised by the scheme proposal scenario

target audience engagement including sincerity, professionalism

When assessing individual essays the key aspects are (with relative weighting of marks in
brackets):
1. A clear concise introduction (10%)

2. A body that covers the two main areas (40% each), written in a clear, concise and wellargued manner. All statements must be supported by a logical reasoned argument(s)
3. Concluding remarks (10%)
N.B.: Any essay over 1000 words will lose marks
Please see additional file for the scenarios