[ATTW-L] condensing a 15-16 week business and tech writing course to 5-6

[Drake Gossi]

Does anyone have a reference for the extent to which professional engineers
value communication skills?

I'm beginning to write this course description, and I want to begin with
something like, "Johnson and Johnson interviewed 100 managers who hire
engineers, and. lo and behold, Johnson and Johnson found that 79% of
managers selected "writing and communication" as one of the top three
skills they look for in a potential employee."

And, just as before, I invite words of wisdom in general and/or relevant
assignments, syllabi, etc., in particular.

Drake

On Fri, Mar 8, 2019 at 5:09 AM Robert Irish <r.irish at utoronto.ca> wrote:

> Hello Drake and all,
>
> For most business audiences, 5-6 weeks is a long commitment given the
> workplace. I regularly teach engineers in this environment. I like the
> advice to not condense but to build.
> I make sure there’s lots of time for little exercises to reinforce ideas
> and shift their practice from what’s old and familiar.
>  I have them do homework exercises each week but try to leverage work
> they’re already doing — so their homework is to send me an email they have
> written using a particular concept, for example. It makes a lot of marking.
> Generally, I focus on the following areas:
> - audience and purpose
> - argument, structuring it, using rhetorical patterns, etc
> - organization and making structure visible
> - paragraph and sentence-level style for efficiency
> - how to revise strategically
> I use a short textbook (my own) and I actually find they read it with some
> diligence.
> Good luck with it. I find working in industry informs my academic teaching
> wonderfully.
>
> Rob Irish
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Mar 8, 2019, at 7:54 AM, Raymond Boxman <boxman at tauex.tau.ac.il> wrote:
>
> Dear Drake,
>
>
>
> For 16 years I taught a full semester course (26 frontal hours) on
> scientific writing, to PhD students in the Faculty of Engineering, centered
> on the “research report”. Approaching retirement, my wife Edith and I
> prepared a 12 hour crash course on the same subject (see the link below).
> There were two elements needed for the condensation. The most important was
> selecting which material was truly essential, and the second was curtailing
> class exercises and class discussion to a minimum.
>
>
>
> To succeed in your task, your “mind frame” should not be “how do I
> condense?”—it will lead to failure. But rather you should start with the
> time available as a given, and ask yourself “what are the 15 weeks of
> material which is most important for the target audience?”  In other words,
> think in terms of selection, not condensation.
>
>
>
> Good luck!
>
>
>
> Ray Boxman,
>
>
>
> *From the home of:*
>
> Prof. Emeritus Raymond (Reuven) Boxman
>
> School of Electrical Engineering
>
> Tel Aviv University
>
> Tel:  +972-3-640 7364
>
> Cell: +972 544 634 217
>
> Room 507, Computer and Software Engineering Building
>
> *http://www.eng.tau.ac.il/~boxman/index.html*
> <http://www.eng.tau.ac.il/~boxman/index.html>
>
> CEO Clear Wave Ltd. – http://clrwave.com
>
> Scientific Writing Courses – http://communicating-science.com
>
>
>
> *My email server changed, but my address remains:*
>
> *boxman at eng.tau.ac.il <boxman at eng.tau.ac.il>*
>
> *Also mail sent to boxman at post.tau.ac.il <boxman at post.tau.ac.il> and
> boxman at tauex.tau.ac.il <boxman at tauex.tau.ac.il> will get to me. *
>
> *Please do not send double messages.*
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* ATTW-L <attw-l-bounces at attw.org> *On Behalf Of *Drake Gossi
> *Sent:* יום ה 07 מרץ 2019 23:37
> *To:* attw-l at attw.org
> *Subject:* [ATTW-L] condensing a 15-16 week business and tech writing
> course to 5-6
>
>
>
> Hi there!
>
>
>
> I've been asked to design a 5-6 week business and tech writing course for
> a non-academic audience.
>
>
>
> If anyone is willing to share his/her regular, 15-16 week business and
> tech writing course syllabus, I will gladly take that, too, since it might
> prove helpful as I begin to embark on this massive condensing job.
>
>
>
> But, more importantly, if anyone has already performed such a feat of
> condensing, and, if you would be willing to share materials, that would
> also be much appreciated.
>
>
>
> I will also happily take words of wisdom.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Drake
>
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