Teaching Technical CommunicationI have taught Technical Writing in at Texas A&M University for approximately 24 years. My work in the English department includes teaching many sections of composition courses, mostly Technical Writing (English 301), though I have taught other courses including Rhetoric and Composition and Technical Editing. As an instructor of Technical Writing, I have consistently revised my curriculum to include the latest innovative technologies to prepare my students for the kinds of communication challenges they will encounter in their workplaces. While keeping writing at the center of instruction, my courses incorporate various technology tools—Blackboard™, Blogger™, Wikinote™, CPR™, Turnitin.com®, AggiE-folio™, and TechComm Web™—to facilitate critical thinking, peer reviewing, accountability, as well as additional writing competencies. In the summer of 2008 I was invited to attend the Summer Institute for Instructional Technology Innovation where I received training and funding in order to develop my proposed instructional technology project: using Second Life® to advance the learning objectives of case studies in technical communication courses. Since then, I have incorporated this state-of-the-art tool in 12 sections of Technical Writing. Using Second Life® has encouraged me to include a more inquiry-guided approach, while applying a state-of-the-art technology tool. Second Life®, then, has become a place where students can collaborate, research, write, test, evaluate, as they venture into, for many of them, unchartered territory. The result is that they are fine-tuning how they learn, how they solve problems, and how they articulate what they know.
My current responsibilities in the Department of Chemical Engineering focus on technical writing instruction to chemical engineering students. My course, CHEN 489: Special Topics--Technical Writing, incorporates both general principles of technical writing AND more specific engineering communication competencies. Therefore, the CHEN 489 curricula strives to meet many of the ABET Educational Outcomes relating to communication. Please see the CHEN 489 course syllabus for more information about how the course curricula strives to balance general communication principles and specific ABET outcomes.
My current responsibilities in the Department of Chemical Engineering focus on technical writing instruction to chemical engineering students. My course, CHEN 489: Special Topics--Technical Writing, incorporates both general principles of technical writing AND more specific engineering communication competencies. Therefore, the CHEN 489 curricula strives to meet many of the ABET Educational Outcomes relating to communication. Please see the CHEN 489 course syllabus for more information about how the course curricula strives to balance general communication principles and specific ABET outcomes.
Coordinating Writing Programs
Though my work at the university has focused on writing instruction, not all has been within the Department of English. My experience includes work in the Department of Physics, coordinating and teaching the technical writing component of a physics course for science and engineering majors, including training graduate students and participating in a detailed program assessment conducted by the Center for Teaching Excellence. My work outside the English department has also included a position in the Office of Honors Programs as the coordinator for the University Undergraduate Research Fellows Program. This position required planning and organizing workshops, meetings, and receptions; serving as a point of contact for all student participants and their advisers; reviewing theses for correct format; supervising publication of theses in the TAMU Digital Library; creating and managing online program resources; and teaching an online honors course to Research Fellows enrolled in Technical Writing. I also advised Fellows on the progress of their writing and research with the goal of creating and publishing honors-quality theses. In April 2008 I received the Betty M. Unterberger Distinguished Honors Faculty Award given to an honors adviser for outstanding long-term service to Research Fellows.
Developing Resources and Consulting
Beyond teaching and coordinating writing programs, I have participated in numerous editing and consulting projects in the areas of writing instruction and curriculum development. These projects range from creating a mixed-reality presentation for a client in the UAE, to reviewing technical writing textbooks, to participating in service activities where I could help develop meaningful resources. Recently I have assisted with the curriculum redesign of a department whose goals include assessing program-level outcomes using an online portfolio tool. My work has involved investigating e-folio options, creating a rubric for assessing program-level outcomes, and assisting faculty of capstone courses by developing instructional resources.
Please review the links on the left for more details regarding my work experience at Texas A&M University and my commitment to undergraduate writing instruction.
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