Thinking back to my undergraduate days, I was reflecting on the lessons my teachers tried to impart on me. The one that stands out as common and reinforced in 4 years of study was, “Most forms of human communication are non-verbal.” Body language can tell you a whole story without words. Professors stared into a sea of crossed arms, drooping heads and nervous feet. The silent images we projected of ourselves said something about who we were. I wondered what these classmates saw in my presentation as a night working twenty-one year old. With dark circles under my eyes, an iced coffee on my desk next to a gateway computer that belonged to a now dead manufacturer I sat over-caffeinated but ready to attack my academics. My ripped jeans, torn construction sweatshirts and lint beaded carhartt hats projected my manual labor past (as my dear friend Rob says, I look like someone who doesn’t do manual labor but is in a bad play about manual labor). I could’ve dressed better, but I wanted to remind myself why I was working so hard, to escape. That being said, what was my image saying? When it came to working with a group, I always struggled to connect because I was “all business” and others were interested in having a good time. Our motivations and backgrounds differed, but our grades would be the same for the project. Bad group work made me yearn for working alone and doing everything by myself. Self-reliance.

A group working toward a common goal always has a unique dynamic, depending on the community. Elise Verzosa Hurley examined 2 communities (introductory technical communication writing course and juvenile justice systems writing program). The environments differ tremendously, one voluntary, one not. Hurley saw a lack of studies in the visual communication sector:

Despite the prevalence of community-based learning in technical and professional communication curricula, however, the literature about such projects often focuses primarily on writing projects, traditionally defined, even as visual communication and design in professional, academic, civic, and otherwise public contexts are increasing in prominence. (Hurley 256)

She wanted to prove that the value of visual rhetoric is especially important but seemingly lacking in the writing programs present.  It can help students understand the important elements of document design and presentation. The group dynamics within both studies had an overall positive experience. Hurley stressed the idea of analyzing visuals and how the understanding of that visual analysis can lead to stylistic choices and design. The documents the groups examined focused on 3 subject areas: Family and Child Services, Probation, and Detention. What were these documents communicating to their audiences? How could they be designed differently? Using the Stakeholder theory the students connected the document’s design to their communities and asked: what are the values and who holds these values within these communities. In other words, who has a stake in these issues? 

Hurley’s study introducing image analysis and the stakeholder theory successfully allows students to think critically about design and complex community values. This lesson was something that entered into my classroom when the technical communication students entered unit 3. This group project revolves around the creation of a self-repair manual for various electronics in an effort to reduce e-waste. Before starting this project we opened a discussion on the use of disposable electronics. Taking a poll we found that almost all 24 students had disposed of 1 cell phone in their life. The highest number of discarded cell phones by a student was 9 trashed phones. We followed the presentation with images of the e-waste across the world and the piles of technological graveyards terrified my students. I approached this issue as a global community problem, and needed them to see what the global problem was. Their impact on creating a successful self-repair manual would directly contribute to the reduction of e-waste. The stakeholder theory was indirectly applied as students listed the benefits of a cleaner/less wasteful society. As the semester progresses the students see the value of what they are writing and see the need for usability and universal access. As this project progresses I am interested to see their reflections on their experiences. So far the students response has been positive and each group is progressing toward the greater good, reducing e-waste with TCP.