Aristotelian Rhetorical Theory as a Framework for Teaching Scientific and Technical Communication    

Classical rhetorical theory has been used for relatively discrete, practice-oriented purposes in its application to teaching Scientific and Technical Communication. However effective these appropriations are, they isolate these resources from a comprehensive framework and from that framework's role in shaping disciplinary practice. Because these theoretical assets are integral to each student's preparation to be an effective, responsible practitioner, I have developed and taught an upper level rhetorical theory course for STC majors that is grounded in Aristotle s <em>On Rhetoric</em> and in his understanding that effective communication is a systematic <em>tekhne</em>/art.

Newman, Sara. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>Education>TC>Rhetoric

As It Was in the Beginning: Distance Education and Technology Past, Present, and Future  

As DE courses are being developed and carried out by an unprecedented number of university-level educators, it is time to reexamine the long history of DE in hopes of better understanding the ways in which seemingly revolutionary developments such as virtual classroom and e-mail collaborations have more in common conceptually with early iterations of DE than might be supposed.

Fishman, T. Kairos (2002). Articles>Education>Online

As It Was in the Beginning: Distance Education and Technology Past, Present, and Future  

Many features of present-day Distance Education (DE) writing instruction would have been inconceivable when DE was first undertaken: On-demand instruction, nearly instantaneous content delivery, and virtual classrooms capable of facilitating real-time conversations between students on different continents about events that may have taken place only minutes ago, a half a world away. All of these things would have seemed as unlikely to early DE practitioners as holding classes on the moon, yet the many of the primary issues and concerns of twenty-first century DE, particularly with respect to the significance and effects of technology, have persisted throughout the many years of its existence. Now, as DE courses are being developed and carried out by an unprecedented number of university-level educators, it is time to reexamine the long history of DE in hopes of better understanding the ways in which seemingly revolutionary developments such as virtual classroom and e-mail collaborations have more in common conceptually with early iterations of DE than might be supposed. This work represents an attempt to identify some of those commonalities, with respect to both the ways in which DE technology has functioned in particular historical contexts and to their significance to the field of DE in a more global sense. It is hoped that through such investigations we will become better able to shape DE courses so as to take advantage of the functionalities of new technologies without losing the benefits of DE that have traditionally drawn students and teachers to it.

Fishman, T. Kairos (2003). Articles>Education>Online>History

Asking Questions  

Students learn by actively interacting with the material, and by interacting with each other along the way.

Doumont, Jean-luc. Intercom (2004). Articles>Education>Instructional Design

Assessing a Hybrid Format    

As college instructors endeavor to integrate technology into their classrooms, the crucial question is, 'How does this integration affect learning?' This article reports an assessment of a series of online modules the author designed and piloted for a business communication course that she presented in a hybrid format (a combination of computer classroom sessions and independent online work). The modules allowed the author to use classroom time for observation of and individualized attention to the composing process. Although anecdotal evidence suggested that this system was highly effective, other assessment tools provided varying results. An anonymous survey of the students who took this course confirmed that the modules were effective in teaching important concepts; however, a blind review of student work produced mixed results.

Katz, Susan M. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Assumptions About Technical Communication Programs  

Survey data indicate that current academic programs in technical communication exhibit more differences than similarities in requirements, student support, faculty, schedule, and student support. Moreover, current programs are vigorous, continue to increase, and exhibit three primary needs: increased budgets, more new faculty, and increased involvement with industry.

Rainey, Kenneth T. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>TC

The Authority of Experience: Assessing the Use of Information Technology in the Classroom  

It is a truism to say that the Internet has made many kinds of information more easily accessible to more people, but scholars in many fields are still trying to figure out how to deal with the consequences. Not only are professionals losing their monopoly over specialized knowledge, but the Internet also allows information to be distributed more widely and allows different kinds of information to flourish. On the Internet as a whole traditional forms of scientific knowledge are not privileged over individuals' reports of their own experience. Professionals often fight back against this trend.

Mack, Pamela E. and Gail Delicio. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2000). Articles>Education>Online

Back to School: Convincing the Boss  

Becker discusses how to convince skeptical bosses that allowing technical communicators to enroll in continuing education classes will benefit the entire company.

Becker, Lynn A. Intercom (2000). Articles>Education

Balancing the Elements in Job Aid Design  

Job Aids offer the Technical Communicator a unique opportunity to present acquired product knowledge in a creative format. In order to produce a successful job aid, you must select and blend elements of material, color, graphics, text, typography, and ergonomics in a manner that will be most useful to the intended user. The information for the Job Aid is culled from the larger project deliverables such as User Manuals or Procedure Guides; the creativity for the Job Aid comes from within and is driven by the needs of the user and the limitations of time, money, and environment.

Houterman, John and Kristine E. Henriksen. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Tutorials

A Behavioral Framework for Assessing Graduate Technical Communication Programs

Behavioral science, with its emphasis on association, reliability, and validity provides a promising set of models upon which to enhance further work in scientific and technical communication. Our proposed model is based on the five independent variables that, when constructed validly and measured reliably, may be associated with effective programs in technical and scientific communication.

Coppola, Nancy W. and Norbert Elliott. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Assessment

Behind the Cameras: 10 Non-Instructional Issues to Consider When Coordinating a Distance Education Program with Other Institutions

When she learned that I would be teaching a course in her department, the department secretary made a mailbox for me and made sure that I received a copy of every memo and announcement distributed to the rest of the faculty. Other part-time faculty appreciated this service, so it became a part of the secretary's standard operating procedures. But I never received the mail because the mailbox was in Crookston, Minnesota and I taught the course by instructional television (ITV) from St. Paul, Minnesota, approximately 350 miles away.

Carliner, Saul. Saul Carliner Studio (2003). Articles>Education>Online>Collaboration

Beyond Google: How Do Students Conduct Academic Research?

This paper reports findings from an exploratory study about how students majoring in humanities and social sciences use the Internet and library resources for research. Using student discussion groups, content analysis, and a student survey, our results suggest students may not be as reliant on public Internet sites as previous research has reported. Instead, students in our study used a hybrid approach for conducting course-related research. A majority of students leveraged both online and offline sources to overcome challenges with finding, selecting, and evaluating resources and gauging professors' expectations for quality research.

Head, Alison J. First Monday (2007). Articles>Education>Research>Online

Beyond Google: How Do Students Conduct Academic Research?

This paper reports findings from an exploratory study about how students majoring in humanities and social sciences use the Internet and library resources for research. Using student discussion groups, content analysis, and a student survey, our results suggest students may not be as reliant on public Internet sites as previous research has reported. Instead, students in our study used a hybrid approach for conducting course-related research. A majority of students leveraged both online and offline sources to overcome challenges with finding, selecting, and evaluating resources and gauging professors' expectations for quality research.

Head, Alison J. First Monday (2007). Articles>Education>Research>Online

Beyond Internationalization: Multicultural Education in the Professional Writing Contact Zone    

To bridge the gap between composition and professional communication studies, we should add multiculturalism to the widely accepted international perspective in professional communication instruction, thus transforming the classroom into a contact zone (Pratt). The practical necessity of intercultural communication in a global marketplace necessitates internationalization. The international perspective, accounting for the heterogeneity of the technical communication audience, focuses on audience analysis and leads us to encourage students to learn about the multiple, cultural layers of audience. A multicultural perspective, however, can teach students of professional communication about the complex relationship between language and ideology and the underlying forces that shape and reflect the ways we use language. Multiculturalism's critical component provides insights into the structures and ideologies of domination/subordination and provides students with the linguistic, intellectual, and moral tools for resisting fear and prejudices. Likewise, the international perspective in professional communication can inform issues of audience analysis in composition.

Grobman, Laurie. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

Beyond the Borders of "English": Teaching Technology Tools in the Undergraduate Technical Communication Curriculum  

The field of technical communication is in many ways inscribed by technology. As a result, technical communication programs not only must provide students with a foundation in the theory and practice of the field, but also must give students some level of proficiency in the technology tools they will need to put that knowledge into service in the workplace.

Brumberger, Eva R. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Software

Blogging Explained

Over the past 14 years blogging has evolved from crude and blunt internet ramblings, technical or inspired dialogues to a diverse and creative web phenomenon capable of calling the world's media to scrutiny, and no longer the province of late-night diarists but increasingly a platform and media release opportunity for industry and commerce.

Search and Go (2006). Articles>Education>Writing>Blogging

Blogs, A Primer: A Guide to Weblogs in the Classroom and in Research

I want to make two arguments. The first, a largely implicit one, concerns the life cycle of online scholarship and is marked by my added emphasis on the word 'article' in the opening sentence of this essay. My second argument, the explicit one, is about the value of blogging in the writing classroom.

Barrios, Barclay. CCCC Online (2005). Articles>Education>Writing>Blogging

Border? What Border? Documents are Interfaces  

Documents are interfaces. In situations where documents help us do tasks - whether simple or complex - they look and act like software interfaces. Academics in technical communication are in the business of helping people learn to design, build, analyze, and assess these interfaces. Yet, only occasionally do we admit this responsibility. Judging from our curricula, our research journals, and our textbooks, we still view this responsibility as somehow distinct from what we do to teach 'technical writing,' 'technical editing,' or 'document design.' It isn't.

Hart-Davidson, William. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>User Interface>Theory

Bridges Across Many Borders: The Eastern Michigan University Write-Link Project  

In recent years, our field has been seeking ways to build bridges and to partner with technical communication programs in community colleges, practitioners in industry, and our colleagues in other areas of writing. Many in our field have also been incorporating community service into their pedagogy. Another focus has been to reach out to high schools in order to connect with students who represent the future of the profession. We all recognize the benefits to be gained from such partnerships and projects.

Blakeslee, Ann M. and Jay Steichmann. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Service Learning

Bridging the Gap: Developing a Technical Communication Outreach Program for Students and Educators  

Establishing an Education Outreach Project on the local chapter level benefits not only teachers and students in area schools but also the chapter and individual members who participate. Such a project can be as large or as small as your chapter would like; it can range from one-time presentations to an on-going program with a school that can include job-shadowing for teachers or students.

Fisher, Ellen M. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>TC

Bringing Literature Teachers and Writing Teachers Closer Together

Many traditional college English departments now find themselves in an unpalatable predicament. Pressure from the marketplace and from other college disciplines has made clear that students need more than basic composition skills. They need skills to communicate effectively in business, research, and industrial environments. While enrollments in traditional literature courses have continued to decline, English departments are asked to staff and teach an increasing number of courses in various types of technical writing. These two trends have produced a less than harmonious climate within many English departments. Technical writing courses are often viewed by literature teachers as alien intruders unrelated both to the established goals of an English department and to the attempt to encourage and preserve the study of humanities and aesthetics. Many teachers see technical writing as intellectually arid, controlled only by format and mechanical approaches to clarity. Many more consider it antiliterature, unsympathetic to the methods used to teach literary analysis and appreciation.

Kroitor, Harry P. and Elizabeth Tebeaux. ADE Bulletin (1984). Articles>Education>Collaboration

Bringing Real-World Projects Into the College Classroom  

This presentation discusses the logistics and benefits of building partnerships between universities and business by incorporating real-world projects into the student preparation. Such a collaboration enables students to learn valuable lessons about how to balance the needs of diverse audiences (developers, business managers, etc.), adapt to business constraints, and work as part of a team. Businesses benefit by having projects completed that may have otherwise not been completed because of a lack of resources.

Cooke, Lynne and Sean D. Williams. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Service Learning

Build It Right And They Will Come  

Teaching through the Web requires instructors to reconsider their previous assumptions about the nature of teaching, lecture, testing, and student/teacher interaction. In online classrooms, instructors often serve many design and maintenance roles. Managing the time required for these roles is an inescapable part of online instruction. The simpler the overall course design, the less often the instructor has to shift from role to role. Online instructors must use textual, visual and interactive metaphors consistently to help guide students toward productive forms of interaction. Finally an equal mix of textual, visual and interactive rhetorics is vital for effective online course design.

Gillette, David. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Building a Multiliteracy Center  

David Sheridan shares what he has learned during his 2000-2003 efforts to build a Multiliteracy Center within the University of Michigan's Sweetland Writing Center.

Homicz, Krista and David Sheridan. Kairos (2004). Articles>Education>Cyberculture

Building a Swan's Nest for Instruction in Rhetoric    

When a composition teacher incorporated community-based writing assignments into her course, she found that the curriculum did not support students’ transitions to nonacademic settings. Her success in transforming the curriculum suggests that the writing classroom can function not only as a site for “general writing skills in-struction” but also for analysis of rhetorical variation.

Bacon, Nora. CCC (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Rhetoric