Integrating Service Learning in a Technical Writing Course Joy Sterrantino English Department University of TX @ Arlington jsterrantino@uta.edu UTA Service Learning Lecture Series, April 24, 2008

Technical Writing Class Goals Teach the principles Teach the techniques Teach the context Teach the application Principles: Tech writing will be totally new for most students; we need to demystify it for them. Techniques: We need to teach them best practices. For instance, if they are building a website, what is industry standard or good design principles. Context: When/where is Tech Writing used? Who are “clients”? What do they expect? Application: This is the most important thing we teach them. 2

Technical Writing Class Goals Teach the application "What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.” -Aristotle The best way for them to really understand the principles is by trying them out. They don’t have the experience to visualize how tech writing practices work in the real world, so we need to give them a way to experience that. This is where Service Learning fits beautifully into the Tech Writing class. 3

Teaching the Application We can either: Teach principles first, then apply them to a project. Dr. French taught her Graduate Tech Writing class this way. She taught us the principles the first half of the semester, then we did our Service Learning projects the second half. The advantage of this is that students get their minds around “Tech Writing” before applying it to their projects. 4

Teaching the Application Or: Choose a project, then teach the principles needed to complete it. Another option is to create a syllabus around a project. So, for instance, I might have my students get on the internet and find service learning opportunities where Tech Writing is needed and then determine how they can apply such a project locally. I then would have them contact a potential client and see if they would like such a service. This would take the entire semester, (so there’s room for problems and delays that will always arise), and as we get to the next part of their project, I would teach the principle. I would teach them how to write a proposal when they need a proposal, how to talk with clients when it is time to pitch their ideas, and how to create a progress report when it is time for their progress report. 5

How to Build the Framework Using Michael Brittain’s Five Easy Steps to Integrate Service Learning: Step 1: Identify a Theme Step 2: Design a Service Learning Assignment Step 3: Identify Specific Learning Tasks Step 4: Create Student Learning Outcomes Based on Tasks Step 5: Find an Appropriate Means of Assessment So, Michael’s 5 Easy Steps could be applied to such a project. Using the second model (Choosing a project, then teaching the principles to complete it), Step 1 would be Tech Writing in this case. In Step 2, I would have them break into groups and figure out where they are needed. This part would be the most frustrating for them, but also would get them invested a the project that, since they chose it, they are interested in. For Step 3, I would help them figure out how to get from concept to completion. Based on what they choose, their tasks might be slightly different in each group, but we would then outline and schedule them (Proposal, client meeting, team member tasks, communication with me and client through memos and progress reports, creating Gantt charts to figure out how to get each part of plan done over the of the semester, etc.) I would then assess them according to how they execute their own plans (which I would approve first). Part of this would include presenting their projects and the process they took to complete them. One advantage to this model is that it gives them real-world knowledge of what it takes to be a technical writer and what it is like to do a real project in a real job, something they probably have never experienced. Another advantage is that they do almost all of the structuring themselves. I have to help them put it together and explain the parts and then assess them, but everything else they do. So my job is easier, and they have ownership of their work. 6

Integrating Service Learning in a Technical Writing Course Joy Sterrantino English Department University of TX @ Arlington jsterrantino@uta.edu