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English 105 -- Technical Communication

Eric Sonstroem

If you intend to enter the working world after you leave UoP, this may be the most important course you will take . . .

While this course is primarily geared toward communicating in a technical field, anyone planning to enter the workforce will find this class quite valuable. I emphasize practical skills that help you communicate in a clear, concise, and persuasive way—"make or break" skills for any professional career. This is more than just a writing class; you will learn oral communication skills for both formal and informal situations. You will learn a variety of electronic communication skills too, from using presentation software effectively to creating cool, easy-to-use web sites. (Computer illiterate people are welcome. We’ll start from the ground up, and you’ll be amazed at how fun and easy it can be.) Assignments will be based on real-world communication problems from your intended career.

The goals of this course include:
bulletintroducing the forms of communication--interviews, job letters, resumes, memos, reports, poster session presentations, idea workshops, meetings, electronic hyperlinked documents, etc.--that a student will encounter when on the job
bulletdemonstrating the effective application of organizational patterns--definition, technical description, process explanation, etc.--in the structuring of technical information
bulletincreasing a student's awareness of differences among audiences, and learning practical strategies for presenting material to different audiences
bulletimproving a student's ability to locate technical information and assess its accuracy
bulletreinforcing a student's teaming skills through Peer Editing Workshops
bulletencouraging the use of various technologies to aid communication and document design
bulletdeveloping and refining a student's written, oral, and electronic communication skills, including document testing
bulletdeveloping a significant professional document for the student's electronic portfolio

These goals will be achieved through the practice of writing and speaking within "cases"--fictional situations that closely parallel actual workplace situations and problems. In this way, a student may apply technical communication strategies in a manner that is directly relevant to his or her professional life after graduation.  These cases will feed into a substantial final project in the student's area of professional interest.