Teaching

Since I began as a graduate student at Iowa State University, I've had the chance to teach several classes. My course web pages are hosted on ISUComm's moodle website, courses.isucomm.iastate.edu. I've included general information on each course here.

English 314: Technical Communication

Technical communication is the course I teach most frequently. My undergraduate degree is in electrical engineering, and I very much enjoy teaching students who have similar backgrounds. For me, the greatest challenge in teaching technical communication is making the subject matter seem relevent to students. After a few years in workplace environments, the connection between advanced communication skills and professional success is obvious. My aim is to prepare students for that relization

English 205: Pop Culture Analysis

I had the opportunitiy to teach pop culture analysis in Fall of 2008, and I hope I will be priviledged enough to teach it again. The premise of the course is that media of all types always carries a message and always influences its audience. Through critical thinking and analytical practice, we can consume those messages deliberately, rather than unconciously. The course is a lot of fun; almost anything is fair game and students seem to get a lot out of the material.

English 302: Business Communication

In Spring 2007 I taught business communication. Like any professional communication, business communication is the vehicle though which practical, useful work happens. My experiences in the workforce have clearly shown that, while skills and abilty are important, the skill that separates employees from leaders is strong communication. Most students have strong communicaition skills already. My aim is to encourage them to use those skills deliberately.

English 250: Second Year Composition

Second year composition is the foundation course that emphasizes multimodal literacy. ISU's communication program is a leader in integrating written, oral, visual, and electronic communication into its composition program. The theory and pedagoy behind this are better explained on the program website, http://isucomm.iastate.edu. Suffice it to say that digital technology has influenced communication and the sharing of ideas as profoundly as the printing press did. This course is designed to prepare students to live and work in information age.

English 150: First Year Composition

The first year composition course focuses on writing more than most other courses in the department. While it includes multimodal communication, the aim of the class is to foster a solid foundation of written skills at the college level. I have not tought English 150 for some time but I like it. Few courses can equal first year composition with respect to student growth.

General Grading Policies

I grade on a 100 point scale, following University guidelines on translation to a 4.0 scale. Grading information is further explained here.