This brain and books sculpture is on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. It can serve as a reminder to PTW students that reading is imperative for developing one’s brain, gaining knowledge, and preparing for the intellectual rigors of a life in writing and communicating.
- Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
- Perform Peer Review on Technical Definition
- Introduce final deliverable: User Testing Report
- More LEGO!
- Time Yourself (Baseline)
- Time and Question at least 2 users
- Save readings discussion for next meeting after Thanksgiving (mega discussion of Week 11, 12, and 13!). We will talk about Final Portfolio then, too.
- Review syllabus about next week’s readings and work
To: Professor Ellis
From: Tiana Beatty
Date: November 17, 2022
Subject: Weekly Readings
If I’m being perfectly honest, I didn’t read the readings in full length but what I’ve read so far was that writing in the workplace creates a workplace identity that include perspectives and disciplines when working as a technical communicator or technical writer. From the other reading, there’s a debate that technical writing and business writing should reevaluated as there are concerns for the style of writings in the workplace. I believe that technical writing and business writing go together as because whether it be a basic email to a memo needed to discuss the future of that company, it’s important to have some training or knowledge of technical writing and business writing. It baffles me that they want to take away such services and training methods when the future of businesses especially technological businesses are becoming bigger and more popularized. Technical communication is and should continue to be taught in major areas that will have these different types of writing styles. The future of businesses depend on it as evolution takes over changing the course of how companies are operating in all fields whether it be technological, medical, or energy
TO: Professor Ellis
FROM: Khaled Akam
DATE: November 17, 2022
SUBJECT: Week 12 Testing Reports
Across the writing disciples, students have been training in an educational atmosphere with other subjects. Studies have shown that writing in technical communication programs is the best method for working in the real world. More so, writing short assignments to increase skill and competency. With so little knowledge of the relationship between writing in school and the workplace we can only rely on improving students’ work so much. Being able to communicate and engage at the same time is beneficial to us students. Writing is evidently not just a one skill wonder, but a vast range of processes.
Business and technical communication, like other writing disciplines helps us learn and contribute to our writing. We must know that Professional and technical writing is a work where you have multiple roles. As professional and technical writers, we should be able to move to different disciplines with a standard to collaborate and get the job done. The innovative writing practices need to be implemented in all curriculum’s or our possibilities are that of a student with no mind for themselves but a walking knowledge zombie.
Technology and science development has brought about new difficulties that are crucial to technical communication. The limited view we perceive with these developments has damaged the world’s structure. With professional and technical writing, the constraints that hinder our structure in many ways have regressed. Through these discourses, we begin to have insight into practices of professional and technical writing.
TO: Prof. Ellis
FROM: Naila Butt
DATE: 17 November 2022
SUBJECT: Humanism & Semester Update
Dear Prof. Ellis,
When reading Posthuman Rhetorics and Technical Communication, I specifically liked the section where Mara and Hawk go into Foucault’s concept of posthumanism. In Professor Leston’s class, we read some Foucault while studying surveillance, so it was nice to see some of his other philosophies. A quote that caught my attention was, “Although he did not use the term explicitly, he suggested that because humanism is a paradigm with a specific history and point of emergence, it seems clear that it will also experience a decline, which he sees happening already in certain disciplines.” I never thought of humanism as a paradigm, but now I can see how there may have been a paradigm shift in our history. However, I wonder, in what disciplines do we lose these concepts? Or maybe there’s a new paradigm shift where the idea of humanism evolves. Society post-COVID has been a turning point in how we communicate with one another, and there’s no going back to the time before COVID. Now, we are learning and adapting to new education methods, work, and communication.
On another note, I had lots of fun working on my instruction manual last night. I’m interested to see your feedback on this deliverable because I see myself making an improved final draft and printing a copy for myself.
Stay warm,
Naila