Technical Writing and

Communication

By Caelan Decker

English 2311Introduction to Technical Communication

TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 – Rhetoric…………………………………………Page 4 02 – Writing……………………………………………Page 503 – Design…………………………………………..Page 604 – Collaboration………………………………Page 705 – Ethics/Culture…………………………….Page 806 – Applied Technology………………..Page 907 – Mode of Communication……….Page 10

RhetoricBefore coming into this class I would approach technical communication of all kinds with the same mentality. With little to no regard for the amount of professionalism that was necessary for specific audiences. I quickly learned through Unit 1 and Unit 2 that this was an extremely important part of technical communication. Through Unit 1, my resume, I learned how to better present myself through my communications both electronically and through paper resumes. I learned key skills to make my resume one step above the potential competition in a professional environment. I learned that this is a completely different approach than that which was took in Unit 2.

I learned through Unit 2 how to better communicate instructions to a mass audience. I learned techniques and helpful tips that would help progress a user of an app to the most proficient way to solve an issue with their car. I believe that I will be able to take this with me in my career as a teacher and a coach. I will have to communicate both professionally with employers, and instructionally with students and athletes when trying to educate them.

WritingI also learned how to be a better writer. Through this class I was able to stop writing generically with no target, and start better communicating through my writing in different ways to different target audiences. I learned that key points and verb first phrases were key in communication. More stuff, less fluff. I learned in Unit 3 that key points and verb first phrasing is very important because those taking our usability test and participating in our survey would know what to do. We needed the key points in our instructions so that they would stay on topic without swaying to some other subject, and so that they would be able to effectively help us better our app. I believe that this will be of great help to me in my future especially with students. This will help me have a better idea how to express instructions through writing to students in an effective manner that keeps them engaged with what is being taught and help steer them to the desired end result.

DesignDesign is extremely important. I wish that before this class I had put more effort into the design of my writing. I learned that the design of your writing can make or break it. I learned through Unit 1, and Unit 5 especially that a professional design in your writing is important. I learned of block formatting and how that makes a resume and proposal look much more professional, and that alignment within text needs to be consistent, left aligned and professional looking.

There does not need to be excessive white space, this makes it look bland to anybody reading the text. I learned in Unit 2 and Unit 4 that design is key. You need to have pictures within your writing so that people stay engaged and interested in what is being presented. This will help me keep my future students engaged during class, and will also help me with potential employers by catching their eyes with professional visuals.

CollaborationDuring this course I have had the most experience collaborating that I have ever had in my scholastic career. I learned in Units 2 through 5 that collaboration is key in any group project, and that a lack of collaboration can ultimately result in failure.

I have acquired skills in relation to planning and job placing. Through this massive group project I have learned how to have a group schedule and a project management schedule. I have also learned how to write these out professionally and efficiently. I believe that this will help me in the future to collaborate with my fellow teachers and coaches. I know that especially in a coaching career it is necessary to be on the same page as your colleagues to be as efficient as possible when planning different sporting events.

Ethics and CultureEthics and culture are the two of, if not the most important aspects of technical writing. It is necessary in technical writing to know whom your speaking to, as in their culture, or potential disabilities. For example some hand gestures in the United States are offensive to other people around the world and recognizing this before you place pictures of those gestures within your writing is key. Also not using slang that may be offensive, or pictures that may be offensive is key as well. In Unit 1 within my visual resume I needed to be sure that the images I placed would not offend any potential employers or coworkers that might see it. This all ties into ethics. It is ethical to consider the cultures that you may be communicating with. Also being ethical in your communication by not plagiarizing and not stealing work from another person is extremely important as well. This will help me in the future to know to check the potential cultures of different work environments. As a coach and a teacher plagiarizing will be unacceptable and a highly punishable offense. Knowing this, and knowing the potential repercussions for such actions will help me to deter students and coworkers from doing so.

Applied TechnologiesImages, Tables and Graphs are all part of applied technologies. During this course I learned how to more effectively use applied technologies to communicate information with images and graphs in a faster more precise way. This is preferred by some people over reading because it keeps their attention and helps them receive max amounts of information with minimal reading. I learned this is necessary when expressing costs and timelines within app development, as well as cost and development within a business proposal. This will be useful in the future because I will be able to take the knowledge of what graphs and tables go where and how they will be able to help students better understand what is being taught. This will also help me in my coaching career when I am calculating timetables for slumps and hot streaks for individual players. As well as when I am teaching certain kinds of math that require graphs to help teach the students.

Mode of CommunicationThe mode of communication is as important as anything else is, whether it be in paper form or electronic, presentation or document. This is important because different modes of communication have different necessary procedures. A formal document needs to be more professional and precise, geared toward a business-like environment. Whereas a presentation also needs to be business oriented, but with more pictures to keep people interested. During this course this was probably my weakest aspect, but I feel that I have come a long way from the start of the semester. During the semester we used both of the above forms in our resumes, and our mobile app. Our resumes needed to be professional and proficient, easy to skim through with critical information being able to be picked up quickly in our paper resume. Likewise in the mobile app we needed to make it precise and concise with pictures to help the projected consumers achieve their goal as quickly and proficiently as possible. This will be of extreme importance in the future when deciding what kind of job resume I would like to send out, as well as when I am making presentations for a potential job so that I can better understand what the consumer wants or needs and I can address those needs appropriately.

EpilogueI am so grateful that I took this course. It has taught me many invaluable tools that will help me succeed on a higher level in my future. I have furthered my knowledge of technical writing both in a professional atmosphere, and in an informative one as well. I have become more experienced in group project, and group management, and my collaboration skills have increases exponentially through taking this course. This course has helped me to be a better writer overall and will continue to help me be the best technical writer I can be. Especially when I look back and remember all the rules and formatting that can help my resumes, presentations, and proposals of the future.