Announcing a new ATTW Workshop for New Teachers of Tech Writing (Association of Teachers of Technical Writing) TEACHING TECH COMM 101: A Workshop for New Instructors Chicago Palmer House Hilton Adams Room Wednesday, March 22, 2006 8:00 am - 12:30 pm This new workshop, sponsored by ATTW and the ATTW Committee on Teaching and held in conjunction with the ATTW and CCCC national conventions, is designed for faculty new to teaching intro-level tech writing courses, graduate students entering the field, and "lone rangers" who have few department colleagues in technical communication with whom they can discuss ideas on teaching. The workshop features three closely segments (more detail below) designed to provide both general principles and specific tools and resources to help new instructors plan and teach effective and site- specific introductory technical communication courses. Workshop leaders ? Nancy Allen (Eastern Michigan University), Dan Riordan (University of Wisconsin-Stout), Eva Brumberger (Virginia Tech), and Karen Schnakenberg (Carnegie Mellon) ? are actively involved in teaching technical communication and have longstanding interests and experience in teaching, course design, and teacher training. The workshop fee of $50 covers registration and all materials, including a copy of "The Bedford Bibliography for Teachers of Writing" and Jim Dubinsky’s volume on "Teaching Technical Writing" for each participant, both compliments of Bedford / St. Martin’s. In addition, workshop participants are invited to attend afternoon sessions of the ATTW conference and the ATTW reception that evening at no additional cost. To register for the workshop please go to www.erlbaum.com/attw and complete the “Teaching Technical Writing Workshop Attendees” form. To view the ATTW conference program (with abstracts linked) please go to www.clarkson.edu/~faber/attw2006 Contact for Workshop Questions: Karen Schnakenberg Carnegie Mellon [log in to unmask] 412-268-2659 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE: Teaching Tech Comm 101 8:00 - 8:45 - sign in, coffee & refreshments 8:45 -9:00 - Welcome & Intro 9:00 - 9:50 - Segment #1: BUILDING BLOCKS: Goals, Course Design, and Theory 9:50 - 10:40 - METHODS TOOLKIT: Effective Pedagogical Strategies 10:40 - 11:00 - break in conjunction with the ATTW conference 11:00 - 11:50 - TEACHING VISUAL COMMUNICATION Noon - 12:30 - wrap up and discussion Wednesday Afternoon & Evening - Workshop participants are invited to attend afternoon sessions of the ATTW conference and the meeting and reception to follow. MAIN WORKSHOP SEGMENTS Segment 1: Building Blocks: Goals, Course Design, and Theory Workshop Leader: Karen Schnakenberg, Carnegie Mellon University This segment will focus on planning and design issues central to introductory courses. Whether you’re working with an existing syllabus in an established program or designing the first-ever course for your department, you should find this session helpful in terms of understanding and defining course goals and relevant frameworks, designing a coherent syllabus to achieve desired goals, and identifying and integrating relevant theory. We’ll cover some basics of goal setting and course design, examine some syllabi with varying goals and structures, and discuss differences between service courses and those specifically designed for writing majors or majors in other specific disciplines. We’ll also discuss resources you can draw on as you continue to develop your courses. Segment 2: Methods Toolkit: Effective Pedagogical Strategies Workshop Leaders: Nancy Allen, Eastern Michigan University & Dan Riordan, University of Wisconsin-Stout This segment focuses on methods that instructors may use to present the materials of the class. While it is often clear that an instructor will or must require a set of instructions or a feasibility report or any of our common genres, it is often not clear how to go about that. We want to discuss methods that engage the students so that they take responsibility for their learning and produce quality documents. The leaders will present a 'maxi' and a 'mini' approach to helping students negotiate the assignments. A 'maxi' approach emphasizes preliminary exploration and planning focused on a local topic and setting, whereas a 'mini' approach emphasizes minimal introductory discussion of the topic or its theory, emphasizing instead creating a general framework of expectations. Participants will have an opportunity to experience both approaches and to review them in small groups. Participants will also receive a bibliography of helpful articles related to pedagogy. Segment 3: Teaching Visual Communication Workshop Leader: Eva Brumberger, Virginia Tech This segment of the workshop focuses on specific strategies for making instruction in visual communication an integral part of introductory technical writing courses. We’re giving special attention to visual communication because we recognize that many instructors of introductory courses are both products and members of departments in which verbal communication has been a primary focus. We all recognize how centrally important visual communication is for both print and electronic media today, but as instructors we often feel ill-prepared to teach visual concepts and language and thus struggle when we work to incorporate visual communication into our courses in an integral and meaningful way. This workshop segment is designed to provide help with this problem. Discussion will center on designing syllabi and assignments that incorporate visual communication and on evaluating the visual aspects of student work. We will also discuss print and online resources for learning more about visual communication. Brief Bios for Workshop Leaders NANCY ALLEN is a professor of Written Communication and Director of Writing Programs at Eastern Michigan University, where she teaches technical-professional communication, rhetoric of science and technology, and the teaching of writing. She’s published in the areas of visual communication and pedagogy and edited a volume on visual rhetoric, Working with Words and Images, published in 2002. Allen is active in both ATTW as a member of the executive board and ethics committee and CPTSC as a member of the executive board. EVA BRUMBERGER is an assistant professor in the professional writing program at Virginia Tech, where she teaches courses in document design and visual rhetoric, editing, business and technical writing, and intercultural communication. Her research interests include visual rhetoric, international communication, and pedagogy. She has worked as a technical writer in industry and continues to do freelance editing, writing, and design. She’s an active member of the ATTW Teaching Committee and DAN RIORDAN is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin- Stout, an Associate Fellow in STC, and a Fellow of ATTW. He has taught the introductory technical writing class since 1970, and also teaches advanced courses in Stout's Technical Communication program. The advisor of the STC student chapter, his first priority has always been student learning. Riordan is also the Director of the Teaching and Learning Center at UW-Stout where he directs the program in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. KAREN SCHNAKENBERG is a professor of Rhetoric and professional writing at Carnegie Mellon University and director of their undergraduate and MA programs in technical and professional writing. She teaches core courses in technical communication, instructional design for writers, and a required pedagogy course ? The History, Theory, and Practice of Writing Instruction -- for PhD students. She’s actively involved with ATTW as the head of the ATTW Committee on Teaching and with CPTSC as an executive board member. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to [log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties, write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask] For the list archives and information about the organization, its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-