English 572:
Teaching Professional Communication
Spring 2001
Instructor: Prof. Stephen A. Bernhardt
Office Phone: 646-2027 Office: 222 English
classlist:
Office Hours: Tuesday 1230-230; Wed 1230-230 and by appointment
Homepage:
Teaching page:
Coursepack with additional readings.
We'll engage in several sorts of activities: shared readings and discussion; creating lesson plans, assignments, and case studies; presenting individual or group research projects with the class; and synthesizing what we've learned in essays on teaching professional communication. I envision a class where different people play lead roles, contribute their expertise, and work toward shared knowledge.
The work of our term will be directed primarily toward contributions to a website of shared teaching materials. This is a site where teachers can access materials, read position papers, gather bibliographic help, or find their way to web and professional resources. Brian Fuller will help coordinate work at the site and set format guidelines for submitted work.
1) What’s hot? Browse recent journals in technical and professional communication to see what is going on in the field. Check out the annual annotated bibs in the Winter issue of TCQ 1999 and Fall 2000. What’s hot? What’s not? What’s missing that we should be working on? Prepare a one to two-page memo of your findings for class on Jan 23.
2) Briefing Reports: Choose a topic (see list) related to the teaching of workplace communication and prepare a 15 minute background report for the class with 5 minutes of discussion. Work alone or in teams. Develop visuals for the presentation and materials for the website for either teachers or students; include a two-page overview plus a list of useful sources with brief annotations. Aim to complete by end of February with presentations as soon as people are ready.
3) Assignment Assignment: Develop a writing assignment (for a substantial paper in a class or training session) to be shared with the class. Accompany the actual handout for the assignment (what you would give to the students or clients) with a memo (one copy to me) describing where, how, and why you would make such an assignment. Target specific kinds of learning (synthesizing and presenting data, improving information skills, writing within a specific workplace genre, etc.). Work within a theoretical framework that you can articulate, even if it is not explicitly announced in the assignment. Due Jan 30.
4) Case Study: Working individually or in small groups, work up a case study for use in a professional communication teaching or training situation. Base it on background research, using real situations and documents where possible. Move outside the university to collect background information. Review the cases produced by the previous class. We'll work through exemplary cases in class so you will have models for your own. Draft due Feb 12; final cases Feb 26.
5) Style Exercise: Develop a handout or online material for a lesson on some aspect of professional writing style. We'll work through some in class. Plan for your exercise to take 20-30 minutes in a class setting. Read a textbook chapter or two, or an article or two, on style or the teaching of style as background to your own exercise. Due Mar 20.
6) Training Workshop: Develop a 2-4 hour training workshop for delivery in a professional setting. The workshop might cover such topics as presentation skills, document design, writing effective proposals or documentation, good writing review practices, invention strategies, good legal writing, business correspondence, writing process skills, or client interaction skills. I encourage you to work with a local business or campus unit to plan and deliver a real training workshop. We will pilot at least a few of these in class, as soon as you are ready. Due April 24.
7) Final: Submit a syllabus or courseplan for an academic or workplace training course, with appropriate attachments. Cover it with a memo detailing your intended class, your purposes, and whatever you want to say about the rationale and philosophy for teaching the course the way you propose to. Due on the finals date for our class. You can begin building this from day one of our course, so it is cumulative over the term. This can be either a paper or electronic syllabus. Due at meeting during finals week.
Special note: Those students with disabilities that prevent them from full participation in class or timely completion of assignments should talk with me so we can make appropriate arrangements for succeeding in class. Students who may be disabled should visit the Disabled Student Programs Office to receive professional diagnoses. Special computer systems are available on campus for students with disabilities. Ask if you want to know more.