ENG 356 Technical Writing in Distributed Environments

Welcome

Hello Students:
 

If you have arrived at the "Professor's Welcome Letter" for this course, then you must be interested in registering for the online course, ENG 356 Technical Writing in Distributed Environments. I am delighted to hear that because in this course you will learn valuable strategies for communicating technical information and for writing in the workplace. In fact, you will learn to

• identify an audience and purpose

• design visually effective documents

• work in teams

• analyze a complex communication situation and design a response

• use new communication technologies and software (including Microsoft Visio)

• develop a digital career portfolio of coursework

However, you should also know that these goals will only be accomplished with a great deal of motivation, energy, independence, and just plain hard work on your part. Specifically, you will be asked to

• participate in weekly asynchronous discussions with students and instructor

• participate in occasional real-time online discussions with students and instructor

• develop at least 40 pages or original writing and graphics on technical communication topics and an online portfolio of your work

• understand the course content by reading and working with many different sources rather than one textbook and one lecture

• work independently; there are no videotaped lectures

• work with virtual teams; there is a group project that requires you to form working relationships with other students.

If you are undaunted by these expectations, then -- Welcome to ENG 356. Please review the ENG 356 Syllabus and follow the instructions for joining the WebCT course.