Fall 2009 - Course Goals
In this course, we will explore the various forms and media by which working professionals convey technical information to both internal and external audiences. As a student in this course, you will learn to write a variety of genres used in technical communication—memos, proposals, progress reports, and final reports. To facilitate production of such documents, you will also learn to use several types of desktop software, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as others.
Learning Outcomes
The course has five broad learning outcomes. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to achieve the following tasks:
- Recognize and analyze rhetorical features of various genres of technical information, whether written, oral, visual, or electronic, especially the rhetorical contexts, purposes, and audiences
- Plan, design, develop, and present professional/technical information (written, oral, visual, and electronic) for various contexts, purposes, and audiences
- Demonstrate competency in using language and design conventions that are part of workplace communication
- Demonstrate successful strategies for individual and collaborative processes, as well as working in a variety of roles in collaborative activities and team projects
- Explore critical issues in professional/technical communication including workplace culture, ethics, design of information, usability, and technology
Texts
- Burnett, Rebecca E. Technical Communication. (6th Ed.) Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.
- Supplemental articles from the EServer Technical Communication Library.
- Supplemental PDF articles.
Class Bookmarks
During the semester, we will be searching the Internet as well as the above Technical Communication Library to search for articles that help us answer questions about a variety of topics in technical communication. When you find something interesting and want to share it with the class, just save it to Delicious bookmarks using a tag I will provide you, and the results will be displayed in the RSS feed below. More on this during the first week of class.