Activity Theory and the Online Technical Communication Course: Assessing Quality in Undergraduate Online Instruction

In the field of intercultural business and technical communication, intercultural communication has been a regular topic in curriculum for decades; various teaching approaches exist for developing students’ cultural awareness and helping them achieve a theoretical understanding about the concept of culture, cultural differences, and cultural conflict. But quite often teaching and learning are limited in the classroom context, although it is true that study abroad programs are available for a small group of students. As a result, students do not have enough opportunities to interact with members of other cultures, which limits students’ potentials for gaining intercultural competence. This study explores the rhetorical nature of simulations, defines the perspective of using activity theory as a framework to understand the learning process occurring in simulations, and provides an intercultural simulation example to explain how instructors can incorporate simulations into the business and technical communication curriculum.

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Assessing the Value of Client-Based Group Projects in an Introductory Technical Communication Course

Journal of Business and Technical Communication ◽

10.1177/1050651997011002002 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 170-191 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

GREGORY A. WICKLIFF

Keyword(s):

Technical Communication ◽

Communication Course ◽

Group Projects

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DESIGNING RUBRICS FOR COMMUNICATION COURSES IN ENGINEERING: A Work in Progress

Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) ◽

10.24908/pceea.v0i0.4894 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Anne Parker ◽

Aidan Topping

Keyword(s):

Technical Communication ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Communicative Competence ◽

Individual Performance ◽

Learning Objectives ◽

Communication Course ◽

Design Elements ◽

Course Content ◽

Capstone Design Courses ◽

Capstone Design

This paper will focus on the rubrics that we have developed for the technical communication course and the senior (capstone) design projects. As part of the C.E.A.B.’s and our own Faculty of Engineering’s mandate to more clearly define the goals of each course, the learning attributes associated with course content, and how these are assessed, we first developed rubrics that would help us track and assess students’ communicative competence. However, we soon learned that our presentation of the information impacts how well students assimilate it. Consequently, in our rubrics for the senior (capstone) design courses, we began to phrase the assignment requirements as action items, as something that must be done; for example, a document’s “layout and document design” must use “clear markers to create a visually appealing document,” and the illustrations must “communicate design elements and results.” In this way, students are encouraged to reflect on their individual performance, and one outcome for them is the opportunity to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the professor. One outcome for the professor is having the means to indicate a student’s position on a spectrum of performance. Finally, although linking attributes to learning objectives and determining “competency levels” can be very challenging, we hope to show how the rubrics we have designed may indeed make the task less daunting and more manageable for all stakeholders in the education of our engineering students.

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Using WebCT to teach grammar selectively

HERMES - Journal of Language and Communication in Business ◽

10.7146/hjlcb.v16i31.25735 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 16 (31) ◽

pp. 83

Author(s):

Kathleen Vance

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Communication Skills ◽

Technical Communication ◽

Limited Extent ◽

Attractive Feature ◽

Technology Program ◽

Communication Course ◽

Technology Programs ◽

Institute Of Technology ◽

Grammar Lessons

Teachers of business and technical communication are supposed to teach grammar, but only to a limited extent, according to the literature. Technology program faculty at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and employers of graduates want grammar to be taught, along with an ever-expanding list of other employment-related communication skills. In response to these demands, a series of eight mini grammar lessons was developed for students in four technology programs. The software WebCT was used to facilitate the development and delivery of the lessons, which formed a component of the students’ business and technical communication course. Exercises, self-tests, and quizzes used sentences from workplace documents from the students’ technologies in order to hold the students’ attention and to validate the study of language. For students, this online component proved to be an attractive feature of their course.

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