Welcome to ENGL 502U Business & Professional Communication!

This course is offered entirely online and asynchronously. You’ll complete the course at your own pace following the schedule of required assignments. Optional office hour sessions will be offered via Zoom on Thursday evenings to address any questions you may have about each week’s module and work.

• Course introduction & rationale
• Course syllabus
• Links to course texts
• Course assignments

Modular framework

The course is divided into five modules. Each module generally includes the following:

• Lecture notes, generally posted or embedded as Panopto videos
• Links to texts of different types (written, visual, multimedia) to review before completing assignments
• Assigned responses to texts you should post as comments
• Original blog posts that apply what you’ve learned to specific problems or ideas
• Reactions to others’ posts and responses, posted as threaded comments
• Project assignments to complete by a deadline
• Tickets out for providing feedback on the module

You’re welcome to work ahead on modules, but you should not skip modules. Complete the modules in the order they are presented because each module introduces knowledge and skills that will be used in a future module.

Online Office Hours

Attendance for our synchronous online sessions is optional. We’ll meet via Zoom to answer your questions and discuss anything class related you’d like to raise. These sessions are optional and will not count toward your attendance grade.

Online sessions: Thursdays, 7-8pm, May 11–June 15, via Zoom (use the same link each week)

Course tools

• Email: In a class on business and professional communication, email will be a vital means of communication.
• Blackboard: This class uses Blackboard for two purposes: communicating via email and posting grades.
• This course site: We’ll use this course site for all instruction, including video lectures, text readings, assignments and commentary.
• Google Drive: We’ll use a shared Google Drive folder for submitting digital assignments that can’t be posted as blog entries. Review details in each module.
• Zoom: Used for weekly online class sessions. You’ll need the session ID and password to enter; both are embedded in the link.

Additional Information

Compose each email as if for a professional purpose. We must all use our @richmond.edu email addresses. If you don’t have a formal signature line on your @richmond.edu email address, add one for this class and maintain it into the future. Since you own this email address for life, there are opportunities to use this address for professional, rhetorical purposes throughout your career.

All tools are closed to anyone except class members and should not be shared beyond the members of this class. To access Blackboard and this course site, you’ll need to use your netID and password. The shared Google Drive folder is shared to your @richmond.edu email address, although I will share the folder with a second email address (like a personal Google account) if that’s helpful.