My teaching philosophy focuses on the integration of theory and practice. Technical communication is a field that intersects with many other fields of study including psychology, linguistics, rhetoric, and visual design. It is my contention that the practices of technical communicators ought to be rooted in theory from these other disciplines. For example, choosing a visual layout for a report should: 1) depend on audience expectations (psychology), 2) Include the appropriate level of definitions (rhetoric), 3) easily scannable and accesible according to the audience needs (visual design), 4) include appropriate usage (linguistics). It is only with the combination of theory and practice can students learn the reasons WHY a decision should be made in their writing.
I think one of the biggest problems in technical communication teaching comes from the disinterest that many undergraduates have with the field. Therefore, I think that it is imperative to provide students with the proper context for every lesson, assignment, and project that they receive in a class. Without proper context, students will not understand the importance of their decisions. By context, I simply mean that students need to understand the "real-world" situaition in which a specific piece of writing will be used. Once the students can place themselves into that rhetorical situation, they can take ownership of a project.
I am currently teaching a 400-level Technical Communication course. This course focuses on 4 major projects that the students are required to complete: 1) Correspondence writing (including a letter, a memo, and an email), 2) Reccomendation Report, 3) Project proposal, and 4) User manual. Although the class is primarily form-based, I also provide "mini-lessons" on important practices of technical communicators. These range from technical editing to document design. The syllabus can be found here.
I will be teaching a new and interesting course called an IPRO (Interprofessional Project) in the Spring 2008 semester. This class will integrate students from different disciplines including: computer science, design, engineering, and business. These multi-disciplinary teams will work together to solve a real-world problem. Many of the teams are sponsored by corporations, and are indeed working on a real business problem. My particular team will focus on the development of a business plan to commercialize group collaboration software.
I have taught the following courses: