Practikon: A Mobile-first Practice/Feedback Application to Support the Development of Communication Skills in Technical Subjects

Abstract

Andreas Karatsolis is the Associate Director of Writing,Rhetoric and Professional Communication as Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His disciplinary training includes a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Communication with an emphasis on technical/professional communication in science-related fields, which is at the core of his teaching and research efforts. In his position at MIT and as a member of the Administrative Committee of the IEEE Professional Communication Society, he is primarily interested in designing curricula and tools which can help engineers and scientists develop life-long competencies in communication. In the past seven years he has also been the Lead of co-Principal Investigator in projects related to the design, implementation and assessment of learning technologies, especially in the domains of language learning, health communication and public discourse. Suguru Ishizaki, Carnegie Mellon UniversitySuguru Ishizaki is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Communication Design in the Department of English at Carnegie Mellon. His current research interests include pedagogy of commu-nication and design for students and professionals in the technology/engineering disciplines, and computer-aided rhetorical analysis.