Module 1 serves as an introduction to this class, to this course site, and to the field of business, professional, and technical communication (generally shortened to technical communication). There are several intended outcomes from Module 1:

1. Learn to navigate the course site
2. Access course tools
3. Introduce yourself to the rest of the class
4. Introduce yourself to the field of technical communication
5. Begin to explore the Fabric of Digital Life collection

Unless otherwise indicated, all work for Module 1 should be completed by midnight on Sunday, May 14.

Lecture Notes

• Review Module 1 Lecture Video (above)
• Review class notes and slide deck.

Readings & Resources

• Open Technical Communication Chapter 1: Introduction to Technical Writing
• Technical Writing Introduction
• Professional Communication Introduction to Communication (pp. 6-11)
• Carolyn R. Miller’s A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing
• Robert J. Connors’ The Rise of Technical Communication Instruction in America

Activities

Browse this course site. Read the course information, including introduction and rationale, syllabus and texts and resources sections.

Familiarize yourself with how to create an original post (in the top bar, select New > Post). Review Writing Posts for a brief tutorial from WordPress (we’re using the classical interface).

Visit our Blackboard course site to be sure you have access and to see how to send an email to me, to your classmates, and to everyone in the class.

Visit the shared Google Drive folder to see where you’ll be uploading items throughout the course. Familiarize yourself with the folders. In general, naming conventions for files uploaded is FirstnameLastname – AssignmentTitle.pdf.

Visit the Fabric of Digital Life collection. Try to figure out the collection’s purpose. Find a specific collection that interests you, and look at the items in the collection. Be sure to look at the description and metadata used to describe an artifact.

Responses

Write a 150-200 word response to the Miller article as a comment on the page. Respond to an idea or statement from the article that appeals (or doesn’t appeal) to you, explaining why the idea or statement resonates with or bothers you.

Write a 150-200 word response to the Connors article as a comment on the page. In your response, address this question: What kinds of colleges and universities today would you expect to have technical writing/communication departments, majors, and/or degrees? Explain your answer.

Compose an original blog post of about 250-300 words that introduces yourself to the rest of the class. Include any level of detail you’re willing to share, but please include your name, current occupation, your program of study at UR, your aspirations after graduation, and what you hope to take away from this class. You’re welcome to make the post as elaborate as you’d like, so use this post to explore the features of a WordPress blog. In your post, be sure to do the following:

• Add a current photo of yourself.
  • If you have a professional headshot, that would be ideal.
  • Try to crop it to about 150×150 pixels square so it doesn’t take over the entire screen.
• Include a link to your LinkedIn profile, if you have one. We’ll spend time thinking about LinkedIn in this class.
• Add the category “Introduction” to the post.
• Add several relevant tags of your choosing (consider your occupation and other key terms you shared in your introduction as tags)

Reactions: Read everyone else’s responses and posts. Reply in a threaded comment to at least one response or introduction. Your reactions are due by midnight on Wednesday, May 17.

Project Work

There’s no formal assignment to complete, but there are four items that you need to be thinking about to prepare for the upcoming assignments. Time dedicated to preparatory work for these assignments will pay dividends later in the semester by easing the crunch of our very compressed instructional schedule.

Scholarship Presentation: Start determining aspects of the field of technical (business and professional) communication that intersect with your professional context. You will be asked to identify a scholarly article, chapter, or book whose content you’ll summarize in a recorded presentation for your classmates. Ideally, this scholarship will bear some relationship to your professional context.

Employment Project: Starting looking at job boards for postings for which you might be interested in submitted an application. Spend some time thinking about job roles you’d like to perform and titles you’d like to earn. Do some searches for job titles and review job postings. Later, you’ll need to submit an application as directed in the job posting, so dust off your resume and update your LinkedIn profile.

Applicant Tracking Systems: Do some preliminary research to understand ways that machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) are engaged in business processes and activities. Identify several providers of AI-augmented business tools, and research how AI-augmented tools are being used across companies and institutions, especially in your own field or professional context. Pay special attention to the role of machine learning and algorithm-centered processes and their use in or with AI-augmented tools. See if you can identify the role algorithms and ML play in these tools.

Communication Project: Start asking around your professional context to identify communication gaps and needs. See if you can identify a specific communication project that needs to be completed in your professional context. Start determining who would need to approve such a project, and how you’d go about doing a needs assessment and audience evaluation. Seek to identify primary and secondary purposes for this communication tool.

Ticket Out

Complete the Module 1 Ticket Out only after completing all other sections of the module. Completing the Ticket Out lets me know that you’ve completed the Module’s assignments.