Essential Music For Reading this Blog Post In the 1990s the Odyssey was rebranded for the silver screen and titled Terminator 2: Judgement. Odysseus was named Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), and her long journey home is now aided by her tough guy teenaged son and a previously evil cybernetic organism from the future (played by Arnold Read More…
Category: Audience (Awareness)
From the Electric Horse’s Mouth: Talking to AI About Students and Writing
The world is on the cusp of the normalization of the use of AI tools. That’s an opinion based on observation, from someone who is deeply suspicious of AI (in a science-fiction kind of way). I’ll be perfectly frank: I use AI to help me write all the time. The more I use AI tools, Read More…
Collaboration After COVID (and why it stinks)
I think it’s safe to say that, following the events of the last few years, we’ve all become acutely aware of the importance of working as a team. Post-pandemic, the importance of collaboration is more apparent than ever before. With the rise of remote learning, students have been forced to work together in new and Read More…
Yes, Student A, The Group Assignment is Important
Business Communication students stare down the barrel of group work with general disdain and resentment. The main questions I receive, (paraphrased for readability) particularly in reference to assignments where students are working together yet graded individually, are: Why do I need to do this? How can I get this assignment done if my team members Read More…
Bridging Gaps in Group Work
Group work and collaboration are buzz words for almost every job on the market right now, but not all industries center writing and communication in the same way that we do as technical communicators. So, how do we expose students in the sciences (for example) to the multifaceted topic of collaboration? In chapter 9 of Read More…
Collaborative Communication: The tools we use and Why
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…
Talking Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8 (Talking Heads- Once in a Lifetime) For my 3rd consecutive semester, my teaching fellowship has centered upon conveying the professional identity within the Technical Communication classroom. Unlike previous semesters, the classroom polices outlined in the syllabus are explained in severe detail from the first day of class. I project the syllabus on a big Read More…
To Put It Plainly: Plain Language Is Advocacy
~ In her chapter “Engaging Plain Language in the Technical Communication Classroom,” Kira Dreher argues for a framework for teaching technical communication that asks students to use and evaluate plain language and PL strategies. Dreher points out the PL is so important to several industries that we have gone so far as to develop conventions 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…
The Accidental Endorsement
The Accidental Endorsement If you’re reading this, then you’re a digital citizen, too. Nice to meet you. Social media is ubiquitous. It’s arguably harder to avoid social media and online communities than it is to grow a following online. Honestly, it goes to show that even when our society occupies the same space– the same Read More…