Abstract
The developers propose to design, develop, test, implement, and evaluate an online version of TCM 320, Written Communication in Science and Industry. The population targeted for this course includes working professionals in science and industry (especially information technology), computer science students, and individuals interested in the profession of technical writing. The course introduces students to current practice and theory in technical communication and involves them in active analysis, development, and evaluation of documents for a variety of audiences and purposes in organizational settings. This project will provide an opportunity to identify and resolve problems of adapting technical writing courses to this means of delivery. Course developers will work collaboratively, employing techniques of rapid prototyping and participatory design to establish a design framework based upon pedagogical principles for writing instruction. Available materials and platforms will be reviewed and adapted. Usability testing and formative peer evaluation of course modules will be ongoing during a pilot phase of implementation (Spring 1999). The course will be completed for full implementation for Fall 1999.
Narrative
Response to a Growing Need for Effective Technical Communicators
As the central Indiana area increasingly makes state-of-the-art advanced telecommunications services available to businesses, government and individuals, the state is expected to increasingly become home to information technology businesses. The state also expects growth in such industries as health services, business services, membership organizations, and engineering and management. As will be expected of "knowledge workers" in the Information Age, effective communication is critical to the success of practitioners in these industries. Many practicing technical communicators lack formal training in their field. Moreover, with the advent of interconnected global networks and the World Wide Web, a greater diversity of individuals have increasingly become responsible for the design and dissemination of information on behalf of their organizations. Often these communication design tasks, such as the development of intranets, are given individuals in organizations who are skilled using computing tools, but who often lack formal education in technical communication or information design. TCM 320, Written Communication in Science and Industry, is a three credit hour class that builds upon basic college composition abilities to apply written communication skills to the workplace. This course provides an analysis of current writing practices in technology and science, especially in organizational settings. Students actively engage in the practice of designing and preparing reports for a variety of purposes and audiences. Examples of products students produce for this course include organizational reports, user manuals and documentation, resumes and cover letters, abstracts of scientific or professional journal articles, and annotated bibliographies. These products enable students to explore strategies for composing "reader-centered" documents for a variety of media, integrating visual elements and principles of information design, as well as evaluating and editing their own and others' documents.
TCM 320 serves individuals who wish to improve their written communications skills, especially in technical and scientific professions, as well as those who desire continuing education in technical communication. Offered via the Web, TCM 320 will enable students to develop abilities in online document design as well as computer mediated communication, strengthening their ability to use tools of digital media in their workplace communications. The asynchronous, global communication possibilities afforded by the Internet can provide students access to resources, including experts in the field and other practitioners, tools, and information that may not be possible to replicate in standard classroom delivery of instruction.
Institutional Capacity and Commitment
This project is compatible with IUPUI's efforts to extend learning environments and opportunities to "new majority" learners, especially through distributed education. The project will be implemented concurrently with the campus's trial of Oncourse, a Web-based environment for teaching and learning, and will make use of support resources and other benefits of this large-scale trial. The School of Engineering and Technology, as a lead participant in this trial, is expected to continue it support of advances in distributed education. A letter of support from Dean H. Oner Yurtseven is appended.
Instructional Design Plan
Web-delivery poses particular pedagogical problems for writing courses, especially for courses which focus on workplace writing. Current writing pedagogy stresses the social nature of writing; it uses collaborative work groups and peer response as important elements in course design. Writing, according to current theory, is something one learns by doing and by re-doing and by talking with peers and by reviewing examples of other's attempts to deal with similar writing situations. Researchers studying writing in workplaces, the type of writing which is the focus of TCM courses like 320, have described the importance of social interactions around the development and use of the documents that are produced. However, some distance education courses seem to operate with a one-way model of education, what Steve Ehrmann has called an "explaining and comprehending" model. The challenge in developing a Web-based course will be to find ways to provide the social climate of student interaction possible in collaborative classrooms and, at the same time, take advantage of the asynchronous, self-directed learning possibilities of the Web.
Experienced instructors of technical communication will bring their understanding of effective pedagogy to bear in the design of this online course. Using a collaborative, participatory design process involving TCM instructors, the course developers will generate increasingly complex and robust models of the course and engage peers and others in review and usability testing toward refinement of the course prototype. The design process will be iterative and dynamic, modeled after the Rapid Collaborative Prototyping paradigm described by Dorsey, Goodrum, and Schwen (1995). Whenever possible, existing resources and materials will be incorporated in the evolving design. For example, Harcourt Brace College Publishers, which publishes the required text, Paul V. Anderson's Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach (Fourth Edition, 1998 plans this fall to launch a companion Web site for the book, including a clearinghouse of resources for faculty and students and providing forums for asynchronous communications with instructors and learners nationally (see http://english.harbrace.com/techw/). The developing prototype for TCM 320 will explore ways to use this resource and enrich the resources for students beyond the text book. This experience can help other course developers explore ways to integrate course delivery with published course texts. The possibilities of providing online access to yet another currently-available resource, IUPUI writing center tutors, will also be explored.
Course Evaluation Plan
The iterative, rapid collaborative prototyping processes employed in this course develop will necessarily involve stakeholders in ongoing formative evaluation of the product. Technical communications, technology, and English faculty focus groups will be convened to review course materials, identify strengths and weaknesses, and recommend improvement. Developing modules and the course structure will be tested with representative learners, using "think aloud" strategies and other observational techniques and permitting on-the-spot revisions. Ultimately, however, criteria for evaluating the viability of the online course will include student learning outcomes and student achievement (as measured by student engagement and participation, quantity and quality of written work, improvement of written work, student self-assessment, and other observables). These will be assessed in large part by review of "electronic portfolios" students create within the course environment. Other factors to be evaluated will include ease and/or difficulty of course administration, including faculty contact hours; effectiveness of technology employed and support available; student and faculty satisfaction. It is anticipated that the AAHE Project Flashlight assessment item bank and process will be used, in consultation with Project Flashlight coordinators at IUPUI (led by the Office of Planning and Institutional Improvement).
Project Schedule
In keeping with the iterative design process proposed, the course will evolve through collaborative model-building and prototype testing and result in overlapping activities. Basic development phases are outlined below. Much of the course development is expected to occur in the context of an experimental section of TCM 320 offered to IUPUI students during spring semester 1999.
Research, Design, Development Phase -- Fall 1998 - Spring 1999 (approximately
20 weeks)
The course developers will work collaboratively to envision scenarios for course environment and structure and explore these ideas with alternative conceptual models. Simultaneously, Web course authoring tools and platforms will be reviewed, including Oncourse, a product of the WebLab at IUPUI. Other tools to be reviewed include WebCT, First Class and AltaVista Forum. A combination of tools and media ultimately may be used in the prototype. Selected existing course materials will be repurposed for this course, new course materials will be developed, and all will be integrated into the framework. Possibilities for integrating the text Technical Writing: A Reader-Centered Approach (Paul Anderson) will be explored.
Pilot Testing of Prototype Modules (15 weeks) -- Spring Semester 1999
Some usability testing of online course elements and materials will be conducted as part of TCM 350 - Visual Elements of Technical Documents, taught by Fitzpatrick in fall semester 1998. Incremental refinements will be made and operational processes established to make the course modules available to support an experimental section of TCM 320 during Spring 1999. During this pilot, completed modules of the course will be tested by up to eight students who have previously taken TCM320. Review of course modules and materials will also be sought from other E&T and IUPUI faculty who are active in Web-course design through participation in focus groups.
Evaluation and Continued Development -- Summer 1999
Following the experimental section and pilot testing, evaluation studies will be synthesized during summer 1999 and resulting improvements incorporated in the prototype.
Implementation and Continuing Evaluation (20 weeks) -- Fall Semester through December 31, 1999
The fully-developed course will be conducted during fall semester 1999. Students will be recruited from the membership of the Hoosier Chapter, Society for Technical Communication, and other sources. Evaluation will extend to electronic portfolios of student work and administrative data, including logs of student activity in conferences, analysis of teacher and student time-on-task, and other quantifiable data. Reports will be developed for the funding agency and for purposes of disseminating results at meetings of the Partnership and other forums.
Key Course Development Personnel
Harriet Adamson Wilkins will serve as project director. Christine Y. Fitzpatrick will serve as course designer/developer. Information about their qualifications is appended.
Appendix A
Key Course Development Personnel
Harriet Adamson Wilkins is an associate professor of English and Technical Communications at IUPUI. She has fifteen years experience developing and teaching courses in technical writing for students in engineering, technology, and science disciplines. She is particularly interested in the ways in which novice and inexperienced writers develop their abilities to produce effective written documents in a variety of genres and circumstances. She holds an MA in Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Language Education.
Christine Y. Fitzpatrick is an associate faculty member, Technical Communications. She also serves as manager of the Communications and Planning Office for University Information Technology Services (IUPUI) and is completing her studies as a doctoral student in IU's Instructional Systems Technology program. Fitzpatrick has taught Technical Communications courses at IUPUI since 1983, and was an early adopter of LAN and Internet-based activities in her courses. She serves UITS as a technical writer, editor, and document designer. Her academic credentials include an MA in English (Rhetoric and Composition Studies) from Ball State University, and she is completing the requirements for a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University.
