Teaching a Distance Education Version of the Technical Communication Service Course: Timesaving Strategies

Abstract

The author has taught a distance education version of the undergraduate technical communication service course at Boise State University since 1997 and shares the strategies he has found to decrease the time instructors spend teaching online, thereby enabling them to use the time they do have to enhance their students' online experience. These strategies are distributed among four areas: management of collaboration, presentation of course material, grading, and interaction with students. For each one, the author presents the problems that may occur and approaches to resolving them. The article addresses a number of concerns expressed in the scholarly literature on distance education and is informed by surveys given to five sections of the author's course taught between 2001 and 2003. Interspersed through the article is an overview of some of the current research and commentary on distance education of particular interest to those teaching the technical communication service course via the Internet.

Engaged Learning Through Online Collaborative Public Relations Projects Across Universities

“…Communicating complex ideas involving theory or multiple steps, a concern raised in student feedback, might be better done using real-time communication tools that also allow for transmission of nonverbal communication information; for example, video conferencing might be a better option than e-mail. Effective online communication is key to successful collaborative coursework, especially in communications fields (Battalio, 2006).…”

“…Three types of interaction typically transpire in the online classroom: learner to instructor, learner to content, and learner to learner; each interaction type enhances collaboration and engagement (M. G. Moore & Kearsley, 1996). Collaborative projects in online courses should enhance two goals-helping students to communication with each other while online and building relationships so that students can work together on such projects (Battalio, 2006). When group projects are well-designed, they help students to develop relationships that allow students to expand their knowledge and understanding through their interactions (Revere & Kovach, 2011).…”

“…Online courses allow for greater student responsibility and peer communication due to their nature; this structure can also help to prepare students for group work and virtual teams that they might encounter in the workplace (Borthick, Jones, & Wakai, 2003; Brandon & Hollingshead, 1999; Qing, 2002; Swan & Richardson, 2003). Because collaboration is necessary for many communication professionals, collaborative projects are appropriate assignments in online communication-based courses (Battalio, 2006).…”

Chapter 1: What Are We Really Teaching? Revisiting Technical and Professional Communication�s Pedagogical Training

“…Yet no curriculum audits are publicly available for technical communication service courses. When researchers do examine the technical writing service course, they address specific facets of the course, such as the inclusion of intercultural communication components (Barker & Matveeva, 2006;Matveeva, 2007Matveeva, , 2008 or effective conversion of the course into online formats (Battalio, 2006), rather than its curriculum. Coppola (2010) described the Society for Technical Communication's effort to build a body of knowledge that would help establish technical communication "as a fully mature profession" (p. 12).…”

Chapter 6: Technical Communication Reimagined Through a Socio-Technical Problem-Solving Lens

“…Yet no curriculum audits are publicly available for technical communication service courses. When researchers do examine the technical writing service course, they address specific facets of the course, such as the inclusion of intercultural communication components (Barker & Matveeva, 2006;Matveeva, 2007Matveeva, , 2008 or effective conversion of the course into online formats (Battalio, 2006), rather than its curriculum. Coppola (2010) described the Society for Technical Communication's effort to build a body of knowledge that would help establish technical communication "as a fully mature profession" (p. 12).…”