RE: If you were asked to design a course for undergrad engineeringstudents...

["Karen Murri" <kmurri -at- comcast -dot- net>]

At that level, separating by discipline doesn't make sense. Definitely
concentrate on what makes for good technical communications - appropriate
for the audience, meets the purpose, clearly and accurately written.

What I wish engineers would learn is to write less like engineers. :-D
Teach them to understand active voice and use it, to eliminate deadwood, to
be consistent, to use parallel structure effectively, to organize the
material instead of just brain dump, and to remember that not everyone
understands their technical jargon (even in the same disciplines).

(Can you tell I spent the last 6 years working with engineering writing?)

-Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+kmurri=comcast -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+kmurri=comcast -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
Tissa Salter
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2006 12:58 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: If you were asked to design a course for undergrad
engineeringstudents...

Hello all:

We are in the process of reviewing our technical communication program and I
thought I would ask this group for your opinions.  I apologize in advance
for the redundancy if I have already contacted you via other lists or
directly.

Background: Texas A&M University has opened a new campus in Qatar and we are
only offering degrees in Electrical, Mechanical, Petroleum, and Chemical
Engineering.  In addition to the engineering courses, the predominantly
Qatari and other Middle Eastern students must, by Texas State law, take all
the normal core classes required on the home campus.  I teach Technical
Communication, a generalist sophomore/junior level required English class.

Issue: It has been mentioned by some engineering faculty that this class
should be tailored to separate the students and teach industry-specific
documentation  to each of the four engineering specialties.

Without biasing your opinion, I would like to know how you would teach
technical communication to this student body if you could design the course.
Would you design a course to serve as a broad overview that yields the core
competencies the students will need in most any field, or would you support
an industry-specific approach?  Why?

Your thoughts and opinions would be EXTREMELY valuable to us as we study
this issue.

Thank you,

Tissa Salter
English Faculty
Texas A&M University at Qatar

979-216-1223 US line ringing in Doha (+ 9 hours) US Forwarding Address:
c/o TAMUQ Support Office
PO Box B-6
College Station, TX  77844


--
.............................................
Tissa Salter
US line ringing in Doha home (+8 hours): 979-216-1223 Texas Mobile (
voicemail checked weekly): 979-218-3462 US Forwarding address:
c/o TAMUQ Support Office
PO Box B-6
College Station, TX  77844
.............................................
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