Overview

Activate’s Communication coaches are here to support the writing, speaking, and visual communication tasks you encounter as an engineer at Rice. Developing effective, ethical communication takes time, practice, and feedback. Working with a trained engineering coach will enable you to communicate your ideas more clearly and confidently.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do coaches provide?

Coaches provide one-on-one coaching that supports your academic and professional communication needs, including:

Speaking in research and design presentations, poster presentations, and interviews Writing technical memos, research articles, design reports, career documents, and industry-related communications Communicating visual information in slides, posters, and papers

Who can make an appointment?

Anyone affiliated with or taking a class in the Brown School of Engineering at Rice can meet with Activate’s coaches.

Who are the coaches?

Activate’s Communication coaches are engineering graduate and undergraduate students who have participated in rigorous communication and coaching training. Check out their bios [link to bios page is on a separate page].

Schedule an Appointment

Visit our online scheduling system.

Appointments can be scheduled for 30 or 60 minutes Appointments must be scheduled at least 12 hours in advance

Upon scheduling a coaching appointment, the coach will reach out to confirm one of the following locations.

• Conference room in OEDK,
• Fondren
• Duncan Hall or a residence hall (for team presentation sessions, you may be asked to book the room).
• Online via Zoom

What can be expected during a coaching session?

Coaches can support all stages in the communication process: brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, polishing, and practicing. We encourage you to make an appointment early in your process to get the most out of the experience.

When you schedule your appointment, the form will ask you to include your communication goals and an assignment/task description. To maximize your time, coaches will spend a few minutes briefly reviewing your documents and/or the assignment information before the session.. During your session, coaches will discuss your communication goals and help you apply communication principles to achieve these goals. At the end of the session, you will complete a short “session report.” When you work with a coach, neither the content you discuss nor the fact that the appointment took place is shared with anyone (unless you request it, e.g., to get credit within a class). In respect of your coach’s time, they are not required to:

• Provide written feedback prior to or after the session
• Read client documents in their entirety before or after the session
• Edit/proofread your documents

Need to cancel an appointment?

If you need to cancel, please do so at least 3 hours before your scheduled appointment. Cancel online using our scheduler.

If notice is provided less than 3 hours in advance, the appointment will be counted as a “missed appointment.” If a client misses 3 appointments within a semester, their account will be suspended for the remainder of the semester.

Are appointments accessible?

When you schedule your appointment, you’ll have the opportunity to indicate your access needs or accommodations requests. If you would like to discuss accessibility concerns prior to making an appointment, please contact Mary Glavan.

Appointment Limits

Yes, you are limited to one appointment per day, two per week and 14 per semester to ensure that all students are provided with equal opportunity to access this service and to allow adequate revision time on your work