By Amanda Beres Throughout the course, I stress to my students the importance of collaboration. Especially as business majors in a Business Communication course, my students will always be part of a team. While I repeat this sentiment over and over, we inevitably come to the final two projects of the semester, and Read More…
Author: aberes
Are you speaking my Plain Language?
Plain language plays a significant role in technical communication as all writing and communication instructors know. However, explaining it to students can be challenging, especially in Business Communication. In Business Communication, student interests range from finance and accounting to marketing and small business entrepreneurship. With so many options, companies, and job ads, finding a Read More…
Social Media and TPC: Turning the “Mundane” to “Essential”
Students outside of technical and professional communication do not always fully understand the impacts of communication. They come across so many forms and templates in writing classrooms, that they see it as filling in blanks. This is especially true with business and technical communication classrooms. Writing instructors, on the other hand, know technical and professional Read More…
Don’t Forget the Student’s Mother Tongue
All people from all walks of life, cultural backgrounds, and beliefs should have access to good education. Universities and colleges often claim to celebrate differences and invite everyone in. But what do instructors do when the very thing that universities claim to celebrate, is the very thing keeping students from fully engaging in the Read More…
What do we want? Microinternships!: Micro-internships as a possible solution to providing more students more opportunities.
Internships are an integral part of the undergraduate collegiate experience. Many programs require one, and students gain valuable skills from this hands-on learning. Students often seek multiple internship opportunities throughout their academic career, yet few are available for those in the first or second year of undergraduate studies. Micro-internships may be a solution., There is Read More…
Teaching Technical and Professional Communication Through Interstitial Design
By Amanda Beres The field of technical and professional communication is changing to include a focus on social justice issues. More interconnected, wide, and vast, employers are looking for people who can think on a global scale. Now more than ever, technical and professional communication focuses on user experience. In fact, it almost is a Read More…
Using Discourse Patterns to Stimulate Class Discussion and Participation.
-by Amanda Beres Image from https://dailyillini.com/opinions/2018/02/07/networking-skills-taught-class/ Participation has always been difficult to define within the classroom. There is a lack of participation theory, leading to confusion about what participation means. Are we grading participation for its importance, or out of convention? Should participation be graded at all? Not all students will understand what participation means Read More…
Creating opportunities for participation and student involvement.
– by Amanda Beres Cartoon of students engaging with each other in an online format. Student participation is a struggle to assess and the collegiate level is no different. Walking in the classroom that first day was nerve-wracking, especially in terms of student participation. Thankfully, my experience so far has been positive! My students are Read More…