By Cameron Sinclaire “Design, when considered as a core concept of making process-based decisions toward crafting a solution or deliverable, involves recursive critical thinking towards a goal,” Liz Lane (pg. 30) states, author of Interstitial Design Processes: How Design Thinking and Social Design Processes Bridge Theory and Practice in TPC pedagogy. So how might we, Read More…
The Problem with Purpose
Jessica McCaughey and Brian Fitzpatrick push teachers of technical communication to help our students unobscure and explore some of the more nuanced, subtle instances of “persuasion” in the workplace. In Chapter 16, titled, “Hidden Arguments: Rhetoric and Persuasion in Diverse Forms of Technical Communication,” McCaughey and Fitzpatrick talk about how technical communication is best taught Read More…
Collaboration in the Classroom
We’ve seen it before: blank stares after asking the class a question, confusion when proposing a new concept, and of course, that one kid- the one who’s certain he knows a lot more about the subject than you- raising his hand to undoubtedly ask “why are we doing this?” Much of this, I’ve found in Read More…
Hidden Arguments, Known Secrets
THE MYTH OF OBJECTIVITY In Hidden Arguments: Rhetoric and Persuasion in Diverse Forms of Technical Communication, Jessica McCaughey and Brian Fitzpatrick explore a gap in Technical Communication education. They claim that, unlike popular perceptions (both internal and external) of Tech Comm, persuasion and rhetoric are a part of the ways technical communicators write. They are, Read More…
Hidden; Not Invisible
Imagine you’re entering into a new job and it’s your first day of work. The Human Resources Rep. hands you a hefty employee handbook, a list of so many dos and don’ts. The obvious ones to you, could be oblivious to others. The hidden arguments within the company book will only be implied to actual Read More…
Persuading the BizCom Student about Persuasion
The book Effective Teaching of Technical Communication: Theory, Practice, and Communication discusses the pedagogy of teaching technical communication at the university level; Chapter 16, “Hidden Arguments: Rhetoric and Persuasion in Diverse Forms of Technical Communication” by Jessica McCaughey and Brian Fitzpatrick, examines the persuasive arguments embedded within forms of “objective” technical writing. In this chapter, 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…
Rhetoric Can be Hidden, Facial Expressions Can’t
By Ghenwa Elkhoury You want to know the truth? Rhetoric hides, and it hides in the places you least expect it to. As teaching fellows who have some prior experience in the theory and practice of rhetoric and persuasion, we must not only know where to look, but also how to spread the knowledge of Read More…
Creating a Space for Participatory Hospitality in Our Classroom.
So what is participatory hospitality? It’s certainly a mouthful. But beyond that, it is the result of merging the qualities of academic hospitality and guided participation. How can we expect our students to participate in our classrooms when they don’t feel comfortable doing so? Hospitality is centered in the relationship of self and others on Read More…
Can They See Me if I’m Not on a Screen?
It is widely believed that the presence of technology in educational spaces can be both a blessing and a curse. I say technology is what you and your students make it out to be. Assessing technology and its use in the classroom is the main focus in the chapter Participation as Reflective Practice: Digital composing Read More…