Description and Material

LCC 3403: Technical Communication Fall 2011

You can also download a PDF version of the syllabus. 

Instructor’s Name: Sipai (pronounced c-Pi) Klein, Ph.D.

Primary Email: bluetortugas@gmail.com

Secondary Email: sklein31@gatech.edu (avoid using this email)

Office Location: Skiles 315

Office Hours: M/W/F 11:00-12:00pm

Course Website

http://lcc3403fall11.blogspot.com/

Location & Time

LCC 3403 J                         LCC 3403 G                        LCC 3403 P 

MWF 10:05-10:55              MWF 12:05-12:55               MWF 1:05-1:55

Skiles 368                           Skiles 302                             Skiles 317

Required Textbooks

Anderson, Paul V. (2011). Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach. 7th ed. Wadsworth: Boston. ISBN: 978-1-4282-6393-2

Writing and Communication Program at Georgia Tech. (2011). WOVENText. Atlanta: Bedford/St. Martin's. 

Kimball, M. A. & Hawkins, A. R. (2008). Graphics. In Miles A Kimball and Ann R. Hawkins' Document Design: A Guide for Technical Communicators (pp.199-246). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. (Provided by instructor.)

Bitzer, Lloyd F. (1968). The rhetorical situation. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 1.1, 1-14. (Provided by instructor.)

Vatz, Richard, E. (1973). The myth of the rhetorical situation. Philosophy and Rhetoric, 6.3, 154-161. (Provided by instructor.)

Vatz, Richard E. (2009). The mythical status of situational rhetoric: Implications for rhetorical critics' relevance in the public arena. The Review of Communication, 9.1, 1-5. (Provided by instructor.)

Achbar, M., Simpson, B. (Producers), & Achbar, M., Abbott, J. (Directors). (2003). The Corporation [Motion Picture]. Canada: Big Picture Media Corporation. Viewable at http://www.hulu.com/watch/118169/the-corporation

Grady, M., Hustwit, G., Dots, S., Veer. (Producers), & Hustwit, G. (Director). (2008). Helvetica [Motion Picture]. United States: Plexifilm.

These books may be purchased online or at the University Bookstore. 

Required Materials

*(Functional) Laptop

*Jump drive (or some other storage device)

Course Description

LCC 3403 builds on the competencies that students developed in English 1101 and 1102, often with a special emphasis on communicating in scientific and technological fields. You learn to create workplace genres, ranging from traditional print documents such as reports, proposals, and memos to electronic forms such as email and Web sites; you also learn how to skillfully assess the rhetorical situation underlying each of these genres.

More specifically, this course will take you through a cyclic process throughout the semester and give you an opportunity to explore writing and new media. Three major projects will allow you to practice essential components of communication in a 21st century environment. Therefore, you will work individually and in teams and compose both print and digital documents in multiple media. I will provide specific instructions on how to compose documents early on in the process and then guide you while you explore a workplace challenge as a cumulative project at the end of the semester.

As you can see from my teaching philosophy, I want to give you the knowledge and skills to solve a problem in a mindful, compassionate, innovative, and engaged approach. That means that you are expected to learn the rhetorical strategies to understand your audience, purpose, and context. As important, we will discuss different approaches to a rhetorical situation in contemporary communication environments. This will link with opportunities for making both traditional and innovative design decisions as you compose various type of media. Finally, you will be engaged in a workplace problem that relates to multiple audiences and, possibly, even yourselves or people you know in your everyday lives.

Objectives and Outcomes

Rhetoric Rhetoric focuses on available means of persuasion, considering the synergy of factors such as context, audience, purpose, role, argument, organization, design, visuals, and conventions of language. Objective Analyze audiences, purposes, and strategies for communication in professional contexts. Explore the ethical and legal concerns posed in collecting, crafting, and disseminating technical information. Outcome Fashion artifacts that address the exigencies of diverse contexts, exhibiting effective persuasive strategies, tact, and sensitivity to ethical and legal concerns. Present clear representations of technical informaiton. Process Process for communication–for example, creating, planning, drafting, designing, rehearsing, revising, presenting, publishing–are recursive, not linear. Learning productive processes is as important as creating products. Objective Understand the individual and collaborative dimensions of  professional communication, including revision and repurposing of documents and artifacts to meet the demands of different audiences, contexts and cultures. Outcome Construct, select, and deploy information to reflect individual, cultural, and/or organizational values while meeting the needs of the intended audience(s). Modes and Media Activities and assignments shoulduse a variety of modes and media– written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal–singly and in combination. The context and culture of multimodality and multimedia are critical. Objective Distinguish and evaluate how multimodal communication–WOVEN (Written, Oral, Visual, Electronic, and Nonverbal)–suits the audiences, purposes, and contexts of professional communication. Outcome Create WOVEN artifacts–such as memos, emails, proposals, reports, instructions, manuals, websites, and short and long presentations–that display strategic uses of generic and stylistic conventions. Design Documents and other artifacts should arrange visual elements according to consistent, efficient, and effective principles. Objective Consider how principles and concepts such as repetition, proximity, alignment, chunking, and figure/ground contrast combine and contribute to the accessibility, comprehensibility, and usability of  artifacts. Outcome Use principles of document design to create and present accessible, comprehensible, and usable artifacts. Integrate graphics to achieve maximum clarity in print documents, presentation slides, websites, and other artifacts.