9,802 results on '"TECHNICAL writing"'
Search Results
2. Exploring the Impact of ChatGPT-Generated Feedback on Technical Writing Skills of Computing Students: A Blinded Study
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Rayed AlGhamdi
- Abstract
This research investigates the impact of ChatGPT-generated feedback on the writing skills of first-year computing students at a Saudi University. Employing a qualitative research design, the study involved 111 male students, blinded to the switch from human to ChatGPT-generated feedback, ensuring unbiased reflections on their experiences. Over six weeks, students' reactions to feedback were meticulously analyzed, revealing nuanced emotional, psychological, and educational impacts. The findings, organized into four distinct themes - Emotional and Psychological Responses, Perceived Quality and Usefulness, Progress and Development, and Feedback Content and Delivery - offer rich insights into the multifaceted experiences of students. While some students responded to the feedback provided during weeks 4 and 5 (ChatGPT-generated feedback), perceiving it as a catalyst for learning and self-improvement, others expressed concerns about its consistency and personalization. The study highlights the potential of ChatGPT in education, while also illuminating the need for a balanced, adaptive, and personalized approach to feedback that aligns with diverse learning styles, emotional responses, and educational needs.
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- 2024
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3. Surveillance Work in (and) Teaching Technical Writing with AI
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Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder and Joshua Reeves
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The use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) large language models has increased in both professional and classroom technical writing settings. One common response to student use of GAI is to increase surveillance, incorporating plagiarism detection services or banning certain composing activities from the classroom. This paper argues such measures are harmful and instead proposes a "CARE" framework: critical, authorial, rhetorical, and educational--a nuanced approach emphasizing ethical and contextual AI use in technical writing classrooms. This framework aligns with plagiarism best practices, initially devised from when rhetoric and composition scholars considered the pedagogical implications of the Internet.
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- 2024
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4. Generative AI in Technical Communication: A Review of Research from 2023 to 2024
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Carol Reeves and J. J. Sylvia IV
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Since its release in late 2022, ChatGPT and subsequent generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools have raised a wide variety of questions and concerns for the field of technical communication: How will these tools be incorporated into professional settings? How might we appropriately integrate these tools into our research and teaching? In this review, we examine research published in 2023-2024 addressing these questions (N = 28). Overall, we find preliminary evidence that GAI tools can positively impact student writing and assessment; they also have the potential to assist with some aspects of academic and medical research and writing. However, there are concerns about their reliability and the ethical conundrums raised when they are used inappropriately or when their outputs cannot be distinguished from humans. More research is needed for evidence-based teaching and research strategies as well as policies guiding ethical use. We offer suggestions for new research avenues and methods.
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- 2024
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5. The Rise of Promotional Communicative Functions in Medical Research Article Abstracts: A Diachronic (1940-2022) Perspective
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Pedro Martín and Isabel León Pérez
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Academic genres are not static, but they may change according to the values and demands of the particular discourse communities that shape them. This paper explores the research article (RA) abstract, a relevant informative and promotional genre that exhibits the prevalent rhetorical practices of a specific disciplinary community. From a diachronic perspective, our purpose is to examine how these practices have evolved over time. To this end, using a genre-based approach, we have analysed the rhetorical moves and steps of 180 RA abstracts published in the "Journal of Experimental Medicine," over a period of nine decades (1940-2022). The findings revealed that the abstracts have increasingly become more promotional in terms of the persuasive rhetorical strategies that the authors use to enhance the contribution of their research. This is seen in the fact that the texts of more recent decades present a growing number of promotional communicative functions, mainly the moves/steps that claim the importance of the research topic and state the implications or significance of research. This study can have pedagogical implications for English for research publication purposes (ERPP) practitioners and early career researchers who seek to publish in international medical journals.
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- 2024
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6. Toward TPC-UX: UX Topics in TPC Journals 2013-2022
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Paul Thompson Hunter
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This article offers a content analysis of technical and professional communication articles related to user experience (TPC-UX) published between 2013 and 2022 in six TPC scholarly journals. This analysis reveals that TPC-UX primarily focuses on product and process topics and illustrates the terminological comingling of "user experience" and "usability." Specific TPC-UX topics identified include "theory," "multimodality," "health and medicine," "localization," "web design," "mobile applications," "accessibility," and "content strategy." These topics suggest that TPC-UX's key affordances are its attunement to networked power dynamics, its theoretically rich treatment of multimodality, and its strategies for navigating contextual complexities.
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- 2024
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7. You Accepted What?: The Impact of Location, Education, and Negotiation on Technical Communication Graduates' Salaries
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Leslie Seawright and Rhonda Stanton
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In the discipline of technical/professional writing and communication, one of the strongest recruiting tools we use is the potential earning power students will have once they obtain a degree and secure a job in the industry. This article is the result of two professors learning that one of their most advanced and dedicated students accepted, in her first job out of graduate school, a salary we thought was thousands below her earning potential. Our conversations around this student's situation led us to survey other alumni from our programs. What we have learned is that students often do not know what salaries they should expect, nor do they feel comfortable negotiating a salary offer. In addition, graduates' location (urban vs. rural) and level of education (BA or BS degree vs. MA) impact their earning potential.
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- 2024
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8. Teaching for a Digital World: Foundations, Practices, and Possibilities
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Lynn B. McCool and Alanah Mitchell
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Virtual teams have been adopted by organizations and studied for decades. However, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of technology-supported collaboration more than ever. This growing importance of virtual teamwork suggests that business education related to virtual team collaboration and communication is critical for students today, and universities play a significant role in equipping students with the knowledge and skillsets necessary to work in a digital world. This work reviews the literature on virtual teams and educational approaches used for teaching virtual team collaboration and communication and presents a framework for virtual team education. Survey findings and illustrative cases are gathered to demonstrate current virtual team education practices. The study concludes with recommendations for the education of virtual team knowledge and skills.
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- 2024
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9. Challenges Facing Arab Researchers in Conducting and Publishing Scientific Research: A Qualitative Interview Study
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Alya Elgamri, Zeinab Mohamm, Karima El-Rhazi, Manal Shahrouri, Mamoun Ahram, Al-Mubarak Al-Abbas, and Henry Silverman
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Arab researchers encounter formidable obstacles when conducting and publishing their scientific work. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 Arab researchers from various Arab Middle East countries to gain a comprehensive understanding of the difficulties they face in research and publication. We analyzed the transcripts using reflexive thematic analysis. Our findings revealed several key challenges. First, Arab researchers struggle to conduct high-quality research due to limited resources, inadequate funding, and a lack of a supportive research infrastructure. Furthermore, a shortage of teamwork and mentoring diminishes research productivity. Perverse promotion policies, heavy teaching loads, and low salaries force many researchers to seek external income sources, leaving them with insufficient time for research. Regarding publishing in high-impact journals, Arab researchers confront challenges existing of insufficient scientific writing skills, underrepresentation on editorial boards, and unconscious biases against researchers from economically challenged areas. Finally, achieving research integrity is closely tied to lack of access to essential resources. To address these issues, our participants proposed targeted interventions at the institutional and external levels. For example, universities can implement mentoring programs, offer workshops on scientific writing and publishing, and foster a supportive institutional culture for research. Addressing the underrepresentation of Arabic researchers on editorial boards is crucial for equity in global scientific publishing. In conclusion, acknowledging and addressing these challenges will empower Arab researchers, elevate research quality, and promote equitable global scientific collaboration. Our findings provide guidance for universities, governments, and international donors seeking to enhance research and publication practices in the Arab Middle East.
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- 2024
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10. Teaching Team Writing Online during and after COVID-19
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Myatt, Alice J.
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Collaborative writing assignments are an essential element of teaching technical and professional writing, and they should be included in online writing instruction (OWI). The COVID-19 pandemic was a drastic interruption of regular teaching practices that had the potential of derailing the practice of assigning online collaborative writing projects, which often require a heavy investment of time and energy to manage. As educators and scholars, we must learn from the experiences we had during the pandemic time. For example, amidst the trials and turbulence of the period, we had an opportunity to learn from some of the practices we undertook and identify ways to support post-pandemic team-writing online. This article focuses on the integration of online collaborative writing projects, among which are team-written assignments. Using an archival case study approach combined with reflective writing, several current intersections are explored: the landscape of Online Writing Instruction (OWI): the application of four specific themes to collaborative writing projects; how digital meeting platforms have transformed collaborative writing projects; assessing collaborative writing projects completed during mandated isolation; and how best to support student learning in all of the preceding intersections. Results suggest that agile practices, transparency, adaptability, and virtual makerspaces support online team-writing assignments.
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- 2023
11. Intelligent Enough? Artificial Intelligence for Online Learners
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Yu, Eunjyu
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used as a cost-effective assistant to human instructors to generate performance feedback for online learners. This study found that AI-generated feedback had a positive impact on students' writing practice in an online learning space. Underperforming students stated that they wanted AI to further assist them with their content development skills and use of sources. Although most AI feedback was text-based, the students with different learning styles concurred that AI-generated feedback helped improve their writing skills, metacognitive skills, and self-confidence, but not their creativity. Student-driven suggestions reflect their desire for AI assistants to provide meaningful feedback to online learners that is personalized to meet their needs and to help them develop ownership of their learning.
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- 2023
12. Development of Soft Skills among Computing Students in Online Task-Based Learning: Insights from Technical Communication Course
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AlGhamdi, Ray
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Soft skills development, such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, is critical for computer students as they enter the profession. Students may be able to practice these skills in a virtual setting through an online task-based course. In this study, we investigated how successfully an online task-based course encouraged the development of soft skills among computing students. The course was designed to give students real-world challenges that required them to work in groups and communicate effectively with their classmates and instructors. The inquiry was based on a qualitative examination of the students' final reports. It gave data from two semesters (Fall 2020 and Spring 2021) of students who studied a course named Technical Communication. In total, 216 students' final reports were ready for investigation. A sample of 97 reports, representing 45%, was selected based on certain criteria to ensure a high-quality investigation. According to the findings of our study, the online task-based course helped boost the development of certain soft skills among students. Students noted an improvement in their ability to communicate effectively, cooperate successfully with team members, and identify professional responsibilities, as well as a rise in their self-confidence. Overall, this study emphasizes the necessity of introducing online task-based courses into computing students' curricula, giving them a valuable opportunity to develop critical soft skills. The present design of the Technical Communication Course is believed to be efficient regardless of the education delivery method (traditional/online).
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- 2023
13. FY 2023 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance. Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Program
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Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) (USDA), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed)
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This Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance provides instructions to SNAP-Ed State and implementing agencies for developing and submitting State nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program plans, commonly referred to as State SNAP-Ed Plans, and preparing and submitting the Annual Report. It describes Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) expectations regarding State SNAP-Ed requirements and includes examples of activities that can be used in SNAP-Ed programming. Some sections have been broadened to provide additional instructions and, in some sections, new information has been added to provide more clarity. The SNAP-Ed Plan Guidance implements provisions of the Food and Nutrition Act (FNA), Section 28, as amended by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (7 U.S.C. 2036a) and 7 CFR 272.2(d)(2). [This report replaces "FY 2022 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education Plan Guidance" (ED615513).]
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- 2023
14. Development of Prospective Agricultural Engineers' Technical Writing Skills Using Online Writing Lab
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Olha Chaikovska, Iryna Humeniuk, and Anastasiia Trofymenko
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Technical writing skills allow prospective professionals to be competitive engineers, be effective at the workplace, reach high positions, and gain self-confidence in Agricultural Engineering. Therefore, technical writing is an integral part of English for Specific Purposes communication of prospective agricultural engineers. The current study aims to examine the influence of Online Writing Lab (OWL) resources on the development of students' technical writing skills. To achieve the outlined aim, a mixed research design was employed, which involved 58 Masters of Podillia State University. Two groups were formed based on students' preferences: experimental (n=28) and control (n=30). The Pearson criterion was used to process the results, which indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of their technical writing performances. The study has shown that using OWL resources positively influences the development of Master's technical writing skills. OWL can be considered an effective tool for teaching students technical writing. It engages and motivates the students in technical writing skills and further self-study. Additionally, the study revealed that the majority of the students have positive attitudes toward the use of OWL resources in the learning process.
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- 2023
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15. Engaging Everyone in Research Ethics: Assessment of a Workshop for Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Students
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Susan B. Wainscott, Mohamed B. Trabia, and David E. James
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How can we engage new engineering and computer science graduate students in meaningful conversations about research and publication ethics without establishing a common understanding of the issues and expectations? Most universities offer extensive responsible conduct of research (RCR) training programs, which are usually a semester-long. Absent a requirement, it is unlikely that engineering and computer graduate students and their advisors would prioritize a lengthy training during the student's first semester. Recognizing this, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering designed and implemented an introductory research ethics workshop for all graduate students entering engineering and computer science. We engaged an interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff in the workshop's design and implementation, and approached our design within the sensemaking framework for ethical decision-making. Each workshop included lecture content in four priority topic areas identified by the college faculty: research design and data ethics, publication ethics, computer coding ethics, and intellectual property. The workshops also included a face-to-face panel discussion with experts including engineering, computer science, and law professors; librarians; and technical writers. Our assessment showed that after completing the workshop, students demonstrated increased content knowledge, and their self-assessed expertise ratings were better aligned with their content knowledge.
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- 2023
16. EFL Paraphrasing Skills with QuillBot: Unveiling Students' Enthusiasm and Insights
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Taj Mohammad, Ali A. F. Alzubi, Mohd Nazim, and Soada I. Khan
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EFL students' attitudes are crucial for the development of writing abilities, which in the age of cutting-edge technology depend extensively on artificial intelligence-mediated tools, and paraphrasing draws no exception. Therefore, this study aims to identify English as a foreign language student's enthusiasm and insights about utilizing QuillBot to improve their paraphrasing skills. To achieve the study objectives, the quasi-experimental design was employed. Thirty-one preparatory year students were recruited to answer a questionnaire and semi-structured interview having verified the validity and reliability of the instruments. The sample of the test demonstrated that students improved their performance in synonyms, sentence structure, and word choice. The respondents hold high enthusiasm and insights toward utilizing QuillBot to improve their paraphrasing skills. In addition, students had positive feelings about utilizing QuillBot to improve their paraphrasing skills. In light of the findings, the researchers recommended employing QuillBot in a writing class while learning paraphrasing skills.
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- 2023
17. A Structured Learning Environment: The Generic Nature of Recommendations in Psychoeducational Reports
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Thomas Szulevicz and Jon Busck Arnfr
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This paper analyses the recommendation section in psychoeducational reports. With educational psychologists (EPs) spending increasing time writing psychoeducational reports, the present study was conducted to analyse and assess the recommendations made by EPs in psychoeducational reports. Based on analysis of 109 psychoeducational reports from two Danish municipalities a highly interesting pattern was identified, as the need for clear structure in the learning environment was part of the recommendation section in 107 (98, 2%) of 109 analysed reports. An almost similar and identical recommendation was thus repeated across the reports, and the finding is used to discuss what this pattern in the recommendation of EP indicates about EP practices in general and EP's report writing practices more specifically. The article concludes with a discussion in which the repeated 'need-for-clear-structure-recommendation' is understood in light of recent socio-political and global transformations within educational systems.
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- 2024
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18. 'Think People. Not [Just] Scale.': Technical Communication Approaches to Accessible Cybersecurity Workforce Frameworks
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Christina M. Puntasecca
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Engaging recent points of discussion within academia and practitioner research focused on access/ibility in the cybersecurity workplace, this dissertation examines the impacts of National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) cybersecurity workforce frameworks on people and communities within the field of cybersecurity. The emerging era in workforce formation provides a timely opportunity to attend to the conversation around workforce development, pipelines and pathways, and what it means to create greater access to the technical field of cybersecurity for diverse, underrepresented, and/or disabled prospective employees. These developments emerge at a time when the social justice turn in technical communication has become a major focal point in the discipline. Taking up Walton, Moore, and Jones' foundational work, Technical Communication after the Social Justice Turn (2019) and numerous scholars writing about the need to examine possibilities for justice work within user experience (Swartz, 2019), engaging with issues of linguistic justice and translation in technical communication (Gonzales, 2024; Mendoza, Haywood, Pouncil, and Kang, 2024), arguing for reciprocity in communication (Gonzales and del Hierro, 2017; Haywood, 2019; Powell and Takayoshi, 2003), and attending to questions of ethics in digital research (Haywood, 2022), this dissertation discusses a mixed-methods research study consisting of critical constructivist grounded theory analysis of the 2023 National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Conference, whose theme titled "Resetting Expectations: Creating Accessible Cybersecurity Career Pathways," focused broadly on reimagining cybersecurity workforce pathways. The dissertation research discusses open ended, reflexive interviews with members of the cybersecurity workforce. Research discussion is followed by recommendations regarding career pathways and workforce development. A closer look into the ways technical communication has historically discussed accessibility and inclusion in digital workspaces, combined with extending the conversation using intersectional frameworks and embodied (third-space) remote work realities post-COVID, may provide new pathways into TCP research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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- 2024
19. Remixing Community Cartographies: Mapping Community Engagement, New Media, and the Composition Classroom
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Christopher William Susak
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Community Writing has emerged as a relatively new subdiscipline that spans elements of larger fields such as Rhetoric and Writing Studies, Technical and Professional Communication, and Composition Pedagogy. Despite this recent emergence, teacher-scholars are still grappling with three major problematics traditionally associated with Community Engaged Learning (CEL) writ large: (1) this work frequently fails to address the real needs and basic material realities of community partners in favor of (2) a repetitive cycle of short-lived educational "experiences" for students, often without tangible and/or sustainable results, which is further exacerbated by (3) a shortage of useful data-driven assessment conducted on curriculum, pedagogy, and other community-oriented work within the discipline. To address these problematics, this dissertation proposes a methodological approach to teaching and assessing CEL courses based in assembly, remix, space, place, story, and practices from the Detroit Geographical Expedition and Institute. A pedagogical heuristic is described and then tested in an experimental course against a control. Student outcomes are assessed and discussed in relation to the heuristic's efficacy and future directions for research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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- 2024
20. Examining the Link between Oral and Written Reasoning within a Generative Learning Environment: The Impact of the Science Writing Heuristic Approach
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Fatma Yaman and Brian Hand
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This study aims to investigate the relationship between written and oral reasoning in an undergraduate chemistry laboratory course as part of an argument-based inquiry approach, which is also a generative learning environment, known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH). The study employed the data-transformation variant of convergent design of mixed-method research. Data sources included 180 laboratory reports from nine Pre-service Science Teachers (PSTs) and 20 video recordings across two semesters. Using Walton's argument schemes, PSTs' development, utilisation and correlation of written and oral reasoning and an argument cycle of premise-justification-conclusion were examined. A Friedman test and a Spearman-Brown correlation were conducted for statistical analysis. The results revealed that there is a positive correlation between written and oral reasoning. While the quality of PSTs' written reasoning significantly increased from the first time phase to the following time phases, this pattern was not observed in oral reasoning. An argument cycle of premise-justification-conclusion occurred in each phase of oral arguments. However, this cycle did not occur in every facet of the SWH process across all time phases in written arguments. The study suggests that pre-service science teachers should be provided with learning environments that will allow them to make external evaluations and engage in talking, reading and writing activities for learning purposes.
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- 2024
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21. In Their Own Words: Student Perceptions of Technical Poetry Writing in Discipline-Specific Undergraduate Engineering Courses--Opportunities and Challenges
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Elif Akçali, Jade Williams, Rachel Burress, Albert Aguila, and Mariana Buraglia
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Although some studies have incorporated poetry into engineering courses, no studies exist that explore the use of writing poetry about technical topics to develop creative thinking skills in undergraduate engineering education. This study explores engineering students' perceptions of incorporating poetry writing within an upper-level discipline-specific engineering course. Two research questions are considered: (RQ1) Do students think that the poetry assignments will be beneficial to their careers? (RQ2) What beneficial gain, if any, do students report from the poetry assignments? Sixty-one students from an industrial and systems engineering course at the University of Florida completed a four-question, open-ended survey. Data were qualitatively coded and analyzed. For RQ1, 63.3% of participants considered the assignment beneficial to their future engineering careers, 13.3% did not see it as beneficial, and 23.3% were uncertain. For RQ2, 11 code categories and four themes emerged; three themes addressed benefits related to professional skills (creative thinking, problem-solving, communication) and one theme suggested the enhancement of technical skills via deepened conceptual knowledge acquisition. Poetry writing on technical topics has the potential to cultivate creative thinking skills in upper-level discipline-specific courses in undergraduate engineering education. Additional research is warranted.
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- 2024
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22. The Communication Function of Universities: Is There a Place for Science Communication?
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Marta Entradas, Martin W. Bauer, Frank Marcinkowski, and Giuseppe Pellegrini
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This article offers a view on the emerging practice of managing external relations of the modern university, and the role of science communication in this. With a representative sample of research universities in four countries, we seek to broaden our understanding of the "science communication (SC) function" and its niche within the modern university. We distinguish science communication from corporate communication functions and examine how they distribute across organisational levels. We find that communication functions can be represented along a spectrum of (de)centralisation: public relations and marketing activities are more likely carried out at the central level (central offices), and public affairs and SC activities are more likely carried out at decentral levels (e.g. in specific offices and/or research institutes, departments). This study shows that little attention is paid to science communication at central structures, suggesting that it is not a practice that aligns easily with university corporate communication, yet SC might find its niche increasingly in decentral locations of activity.
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- 2024
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23. A Scholarly Dialogue: Writing Scholarship, Authorship, Academic Integrity and the Challenges of AI
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Beck Wise, Lisa Emerson, Ariella Van Luyn, Bronwen Dyson, Collin Bjork, and Susan E. Thomas
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Concerns about the role of technology and the quality of student writing in higher education are not new. Historically, writing scholars have been at the forefront of initiatives that scrutinise and integrate new technologies in higher education. This article contends that writing scholars are again uniquely equipped to assist students, teachers in all disciplines, and institutions of higher education in navigating the challenges created by the public availability of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Adopting a dialogical approach, the article brings together six scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds within the broad umbrella of writing studies. Through the lens of writing scholarship, this chorus of critical voices illuminates the important questions posed by, and possible responses to, AI in higher education. Although AI complicates key issues in higher education such as academic integrity, assessment, and authorship, writing scholarship provides an essential framework for educators to respond to these challenges. Collectively, these scholars map the history of writing scholars' responses to technological change in higher education and suggest how writing scholars can contribute to the debates and discussions concerning the impact of AI on higher education.
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- 2024
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24. Back to the Basics: Uncovering the Rhetoric Student Learning Outcome
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Lisa Melonçon, Jessica Griffith, Carolyn Gubala, and Tanya Zarlengo
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Using an evaluative approach within a professional communication service course, we used student documents and instructor feedback to uncover how students and instructors were understanding the rhetoric student learning outcome (SLO). Because rhetoric is central to the course, our driving questions were, Can we locate language that actualizes the rhetoric SLO in student documents? How does faculty feedback articulate the rhetoric SLO to facilitate effective revision? Overall, we found that whether identifying rhetoric in student documents or instructor feedback, the interpretation was varied and opens up room in pedagogical practices. We offer three implications for teaching: enhancing attention to teaching rhetoric, improving assignment design, and focusing on professional development for faculty.
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- 2024
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25. A Direct Functional Measure of Text Quality: Did the Reader Understand?
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Joachim Grabowski and Moti Mathiebe
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Assessing text quality as an indication of underlying skills still remains challenging; irrespective of the approach, many studies struggle with reliability or validity problems. If writing is considered problem-solving, a report must make the reader understand the described situation and call for its mental reconstruction. Therefore, text quality may not only comprise linguistic aspects but also the cognitive-functional power of a text. The presented study aims at exploring the functionality of students' reporting texts in relation to general text-quality measures, using a corpus of accident reports written by German fifth- and ninth-graders (n = 277) prompted by a pictorial stimulus of a bike accident scenario. An online tool was developed in which 277 university students graphically reenacted the situation from one respective text according to the existence, position, and color of the involved elements. Thereafter, the match of the resulting spatial reconstructions with the original situation was assessed by two raters. While most subscales showed sufficiently high interrater reliabilities, the aggregated functionality score ([alpha] = 0.74) had medium-high correlations with other text-quality ratings and was comparably dependent on grade, education level, and linguistic family background. However, the correlational pattern, regression analysis, and factor analysis showed that the functionality score also contributed unique portions of variance to the assessment of writing skill that were not represented by rating measures. Moreover, the direct indication of whether a text allows for the reader's adequate cognitive representation is evident. Altogether, the approach of indicating text functionality through practical understanding offers a sound, though empirically laborious, alternative for text-quality measurement. Results are discussed with regard to the didactical strategy according to which students can improve their writing when they observe whether others can make use of their texts.
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- 2024
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26. Modifying an Existing SIMIODE Project to Create an In-Depth Project Requiring a Written Report
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Forest Mannan
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This article considers starting with an existing SIMIODE modeling scenario [Winkel, B. (2015). 1-031-CoolIt-ModelingScenario. SIMIODE (Version 2.0). "QUBES Educational Resources." https://doi.org/10.25334/3WG8-EC31] that develops Newton's law of cooling by considering data on the cooling of a beaker of water in a room, and expanding upon it to create a longer project modeling the temperature of a building with an internal heat pump that is also subject to a sinusoidal varying outside temperature. The proposed project was undertaken early on in the course, since little background was required, and a longer project format was utilised so that students could return to the project and see direct applications of new concepts, such as autonomous vs. nonautonomous ordinary differential equations, slope fields, and Euler's method as they were introduced. The project prompt is provided as well as a detailed discussion of the motivation behind the questions. Finally, the pros and cons of requiring the students to submit a written lab report for the project are reflected upon and a sample rubric is provided.
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- 2024
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27. Undergraduates' Perceptions and Attitudes toward Writing Biology Lab Reports: Science Writing, Gender Equity, Geographic Equity, and Instructor Reluctance
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Kristy M. Palmer
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Learning effective science writing is an important component of becoming a scientist, but it can also be difficult to master. Even though the lab report has a long history in science education, there are still lingering issues that impact life science instructors and students. This dissertation is a coherent body of three interrelated research projects regarding written lab reports. The first research project was a qualitative study considering the reasons why some life science instructors have decided not to assign lab reports. The second research project used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to quantitatively addresses the validity and reliability of a three-factor novel instrument (the "Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Writing Lab Reports Scale") which can be used to gauge undergraduates' attitudes and perceptions toward writing lab reports. The second study used the scale to empirically evaluate differences in attitudes toward writing lab reports for undergraduate life science majors who self-identify as either female or male. The third study compared perceptions and attitudes toward writing lab reports for rural and urban undergraduate biology majors. While the quantitative results in this dissertation highlight equity differences in life science major's perceptions and attitudes toward writing lab reports, the qualitative results underscore reasons why some instructors opt not to use the assignment. Taken together, science educators must consider how science writing with regard to the lab report ultimately impacts their students' success and desired class outcomes. This research adds to the literature on science writing and the lab report. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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- 2024
28. Exploring ChatGPT's Ability to Classify the Structure of Literature Reviews in Engineering Research Articles
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Maha Issa, Marwa Faraj, and Niveen AbiGhannam
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ChatGPT is a newly emerging artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can generate and assess written text. In this study, we aim to examine the extent to which it can correctly identify the structure of literature review sections in engineering research articles. For this purpose, we conducted a manual content analysis by classifying paragraphs of literature review sections into their corresponding categories that are based on Kwan's model, which is a labeling scheme for structuring literature reviews. We then asked ChatGPT to perform the same categorization and compared both outcomes. Numerical results do not imply a satisfactory performance of ChatGPT; therefore, writers cannot fully depend on it to edit their literature reviews. However, the AI chatbot displays an understanding of the given prompt and is able to respond beyond the classification task by giving supportive and useful explanations for the users. Such findings can be especially helpful for beginners who usually struggle to write comprehensive literature review sections since they highlight how users can benefit from this AI chatbot to revise their drafts at the level of content and organization. With further investigations and advancement, AI chatbots can also be used for teaching proper literature review writing and editing.
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- 2024
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29. A Study of Lexical Repetition and the Comprehensibility of Single-Sourced Technical Documents
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Gattis, Lyn F.
- Abstract
This study investigated the extent to which lexical repetition in English passages developed in a content management system appeared to affect reading comprehension. Participants were 65 graduate students at a Midwestern public university, all of whom were native English readers. Instruments were two passages adjusted to maximize or minimize internal lexical repetition. Readers rated repetitive texts as significantly more cohesive than nonrepetitive texts, although repetition did not significantly affect the accuracy of task-based responses. Participants named lexical cues that had been repeated but also named nonrepeated, memorable cues, suggesting possible future research into managed content, lexical memorableness, and reader comprehension.
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- 2023
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30. Deconstructing the Art of Grantsmanship: The Roles of the Storyteller, Grant Writer, Typesetter, Proofreader, Accountant and Reviewer
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Mosier, Karen E.
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Background: The content presents a conceptually powerful and attractive framework for understanding the proposal development process to capture the complexity of the steps that contribute to successful grant writing. Based on experiences from 15 years in research administration and using real-life examples, the author juxtaposes the diverse roles required of grants professionals in creating a competitive grant application. In the context of increasing university emphasis on attracting extramural grant funding, this timely article focuses on proposal development skills using a step-by-step process including a sixpart analysis of each role within the framework, dividing the role into primary subtopics all highly relevant to each specific role. By deconstructing the art of grantsmanship, the whole suite of proposal development processes is considered with this approach with the intention that research development professionals will have solid actionable guidance in a cohesively planned delivery to capture the intricate mechanisms that translate to successful grantsmanship and acquire a set of tools to use to train grant seekers.
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- 2022
31. Using Markup Languages for Accessible Scientific, Technical, and Scholarly Document Creation
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White, Jason J. G.
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In using software to write a scientific, technical, or other scholarly document, authors have essentially two options. They can either write it in a 'what you see is what you get' (WYSIWYG) editor such as a word processor, or write it in a text editor using a markup language such as HTML, LATEX, Markdown, or AsciiDoc. This paper gives an overview of the latter approach, focusing on both the non-visual accessibility of the writing process, and that of the documents produced. Currently popular markup languages and established tools associated with them are introduced. Support for mathematical notation is considered. In addition, domain-specific programming languages for constructing various types of diagrams can be well integrated into the document production process. These languages offer interesting potential to facilitate the non-visual creation of graphical content, while raising insufficiently explored research questions. The flexibility with which documents written in current markup languages can be converted to different output formats is emphasized. These formats include HTML, EPUB, and PDF, as well as file formats used by contemporary word processors. Such conversion facilities can serve as means of enhancing the accessibility of a document both for the author (during the editing and proofreading process) and for those among the document's recipients who use assistive technologies, such as screen readers and screen magnifiers. Current developments associated with markup languages and the accessibility of scientific or technical documents are described. The paper concludes with general commentary, together with a summary of opportunities for further research and software development.
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- 2022
32. Syntactic Complexity and Writing Quality in Students' Technical Writing
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Lee, Joyce, Wu, Kam Yin, and Lee, Eric Ping Chung
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Syntactic complexity is a crucial aspect of linguistic proficiency and thus understanding and supporting such development in learners is a keen concern for language teachers. Research conducted has shown growing sophistication of noun phrase structures by writers of different abilities in academic writing (Biber & Gray, 2010; Liu & Li, 2016; Parkinson & Musgrave, 2014). In comparison, relatively less is known about the development of syntactic sophistication among student technical writers. Adopting a discipline-specific approach, this study compared the complexity of noun phrase structures in student texts of three performance levels from high, mid and low. The data taken from 45 technical reports of university engineering students were analyzed quantitatively using automatic syntactic analyzers and qualitatively by manual coding and text examination. The results show that noun phrase complexity is a differentiating factor for different performance levels with the stronger texts exemplifying more varied modifying structures and in greater numbers. Complex and lengthy structures, such as multiple use of prepositional phrases and combined use of other modifiers such as "-ed" or "-ing" clauses, are common in postmodification, whereas premodifying structures are simpler in structure and shorter. The study also explored the contribution of complex noun phrases to expression of meaning, showing that complex syntactic structures are commonly used to perform a diverse range of language functions essential to technical communication, such as explaining a scientific mechanism. The close connection between syntactic complexity and expression of meaning suggests that structures for pre-and postmodification should be learned as a meaning-making resource
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- 2022
33. The Effects of Using Cognitive Discourse Functions to Instruct 4th-Year Children on Report Writing in a CLIL Science Class
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de Larios, Julio Roca, Coyle, Yvette, and García, Vanessa
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The present study analyzed how a group of young Spanish-speaking English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) science class responded to an instructional unit integrating attention to functional language and an inquiry-oriented approach to science. Working in cooperation with the researchers, a year 4 primary school teacher implemented a teaching sequence on levers with 48 9-10-year-olds over three weeks. The sequence, which was intended to raise the children's awareness of the demands involved in understanding (content goals) and expressing as written reports (rhetorical goals) how levers work, scaffolded their activity from item-based writing to the production of full texts. On completing the unit, each child independently wrote a report on levers, all of which were analyzed from the perspective of cognitive discourse functions and ideational meaning. The results of these analyses are discussed in terms of their significance for CLIL writing with young learners.
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- 2022
34. Challenges Facing Jordanian Undergraduates in Writing Graduation Research Paper
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Altikriti, Sahar
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Writing a research paper as a graduation requisite by university students is an important part of university education. It is not a simple task for most university students who face several problems during writing the graduation project. Several kinds of research have been conducted onrecognising the challenges and problems that face students in academic writing, but to the researcher's best knowledge, no study has been conducted on the problems faced in writing a graduate research paper by Jordanian undergraduate students of the English Language and Literature major. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the academic writing challenges and difficulties encountered in writing graduation papers by EFL undergraduate students in the Department of English at Alzaytoonah University of Jordan (ZUJ). The data for the study was collected through distributing a questionnaire of three parameters: attitude about writing a research paper, methodology challenges, and background knowledge about research. The questionnaire is based on identifying the causes of the students' challenges in writing their graduation papers. The respondents were 45 undergraduate students of the English Language and Literature. The findings revealed that the most important problems were lack of an academic prerequisite of teaching the techniques of how to write a research paper, lack of knowledge of research paper writing process, lack of resources, lack of the methodology, etc. Thus, for these reasons, the present study attempts to present suggestions and recommendations to overcome such hurdles faced by graduate students in writing their graduation research papers.
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- 2022
35. FY 2022 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance. Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Program
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Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) (USDA), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed)
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This Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance provides instructions for developing and submitting State nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program plans, commonly referred to as State SNAP-Ed Plans. It describes Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) expectations regarding State SNAP-Ed requirements and includes examples of activities that can be used in SNAP-Ed programming. Some sections have been broadened to provide additional instructions and in some places, new information has been added. The SNAP-Ed Plan Guidance implements provisions of the FNA, Section 28, as amended by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (7 U.S.C. 2036a) and 7 CFR(d)(2). [This report replaces "FY 2021 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education Plan Guidance" (ED615514).]
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- 2022
36. My Favorite Assignment: Selections from the ABC 2022 Annual International Conference, Tampa, Florida, USA: Sharing Teaching Innovations with a Porpoise Pod's Coordination, Speed, and Grace
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Whalen, D. Joel and Drehmer, Charles
- Abstract
Business communication teachers navigate a constantly changing pedagogical geography shaped by technology and breakthrough discoveries in linguistics, psychology, and neurobiology. "My Favorite Assignment" is designed to speed new teaching methods to the classroom. This article gives readers 11 teaching innovations on report writing, intercultural communication, and analysis and critical thinking debuted at the 2022 Association for Business Communication's (ABC) 87th Annual International Conference in Tampa, Florida, USA. Additional support materials--instructions to students, stimulus materials, slides, grading rubrics, frequently asked questions, and sample student projects--are downloadable from the ABC and DePaul University Center for Sales Leadership websites.
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- 2023
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37. Collaborating Successfully with Community Partners and Clients in Online Service-Learning Classes
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Dumlao, Rebecca J.
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Teaching online students to collaborate effectively with community partners and to solve problems through service-learning projects are "on trend" topics for technical communication faculty. This article presents collaboration specifics as well as the author's Collaborative Communication Framework (CCF) to show the types of communication needed to work well with community partners/clients in service-learning. Tips for teaching, including using the CCF and service-learning, will be highlighted so faculty can make choices about how to meet curricular goals while addressing community partner/client needs. Resources for teaching will be offered. Successful student projects will show detailed examples of key ideas throughout the article.
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- 2023
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38. The Need for Technical Communication Pedagogical Module for 21st Century Learning in TVET Institutions: Lecturers' Typical Instructional Strategies
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Ramamuruthy, Viji, DeWitt, Dorothy, and Alias, Norlidah
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This paper emphasises on the needs analysis for the development of Technical Communication Pedagogical Module (TCPM) which could be adopted by the lecturers in skill-based higher learning institutions to teach technical communication. About 81% of the respondents indicated that fresh graduates lack communication skills. In addition, the total unemployment rate in June 2018 was recorded at 3.4%. Most of the employers as well as the graduates themselves reported that fresh graduates are unable to secure an employment due to poor communication skills. This raises the curiosity in determining the reasons for the ineffective course of study which supposed to be producing work-ready graduates. Therefore, before developing a technical communication pedagogical module which the educators could adopt to teach technical communication, it is crucial to determine lecturers' typical instructional strategies for teaching technical communication. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 30 lecturers and the findings revealed that most of the lecturers over-rated themselves for all the five aspects in the questionnaire which are (1) subject matter knowledge, (2) instructional planning and strategies, (3) assessment, (4) learning environment and (5) effective communication.
- Published
- 2021
39. Using Computational Essays to Foster Disciplinary Epistemic Agency in Undergraduate Science
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Odden, Tor Ole B., Silvia, Devin W., and Malthe-Sørenssen, Anders
- Abstract
This article reports on a study investigating how computational essays can be used to help students in higher education STEM take up disciplinary epistemic agency--cognitive control and responsibility over one's own learning within the scientific disciplines. Computational essays are a genre of scientific writing that combine live, executable computer code with narrative text to present a computational model or analysis. The study took place across two contrasting university contexts: an interdisciplinary data science and modeling course at a large research university in the Midwestern United States, and a third-semester physics course at a large research university in Scandinavia. Over the course of a semester, computational essays were simultaneously and independently used in both courses, and comparable datasets of student artifacts and retrospective interviews were collected from both student populations. These data were analyzed using a framework that operationalized the construct of disciplinary epistemic agency across the dimensions of programming, inquiry, data analysis and modeling, and communication. Based on this analysis, we argue that computational essays can be a useful tool for fostering disciplinary epistemic agency within higher education science due to their combination of adaptability and disciplinary authenticity. However, we also argue that educational contexts, scaffolding, expectations, and student backgrounds can constrain and influence the ways in which students choose to take up epistemic agency.
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- 2023
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40. Examining Multimodal Community-Engaged Projects for Technical and Professional Communication: Motivation, Design, Technology, and Impact
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Tham, Jason and Jiang, Jialei
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This study examines the role of multimodality in facilitating service-learning goals. We report findings from qualitative interviews with 20 college instructors who have designed and facilitated multimodal community-engaged learning projects, identifying their motivations, goals, and the impact of these projects through reflections. Based on our qualitative analysis of these instructor responses, we discuss the technological and pedagogical implications of multimodal social advocacy projects in technical and professional writing courses.
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- 2023
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41. Tracing the Influences of Praxis on the Development of an Open Corequisite Writing Textbook
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Atkinson, Dawn and Corbitt, Stacey
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Although retrospective project reports are common in the materials development literature, accounts of textbook writing sessions are rare; so too are accounts of open textbook production. Open textbooks are learning resources that are free to use and oftentimes adapt by virtue of their copyright permissions. The authors used concurrent verbalization and interviews to document writing episodes while preparing their first book, an open textbook devised for corequisite technical writing courses. Corequisite designs pair content courses with explicit skill-building modules as a means to support underprepared learners in higher education in the United States. Qualitative content analysis of the data revealed how teaching and other praxis influenced the open textbook's composition: in the authors' applications of technical writing principles, pedagogical reasoning skills, and nonteaching work. The findings may encourage open textbook writers to exploit their established composing practices and knowledge bases to proceed with textbook production. In addition, the article highlights the usefulness of concurrent verbalization to textbook research and identifies the various materials development opportunities open textbook projects provide. It also contributes to the underresearched area of textbook production by exposing the complexities of open textbook development and how two novice authors negotiated them during writing episodes.
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- 2023
- Full Text
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42. FY 2021 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education Plan Guidance. Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Program
- Author
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Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) (USDA), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed)
- Abstract
This Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Plan Guidance provides instructions for developing and submitting State nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program plans, commonly referred to as State SNAP-Ed Plans. It describes Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) expectations regarding State SNAP-Ed requirements and includes examples of activities that can be used in SNAP-Ed programming. Some sections have been broadened to provide additional instructions and in some places, new information has been added. The SNAP-Ed Plan Guidance implements provisions of the FNA, Section 28, as amended by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (7 U.S.C. 2036a) and 7 CFR(d)(2). [This report replaces "FY 2020 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education Plan Guidance."]
- Published
- 2021
43. Uncovering the Importance of Peer-to-Peer Communication during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Rotating Chromatography Experiments to Overcome Limited Student Capacity
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Kelly A. Richardson, Rachel A. Harris, Kimberly L. Anderson, Rena~ A.S. Robinson, John A. McLean, and Susan Denise Verberne-Sutton
- Abstract
Even though scientific communication and collaboration play critical roles in academic success, they often come in second to teaching laboratory fundamentals. COVID-19 associated capacity constraints forced our program to reexamine the traditional laboratory instruction paradigm by limiting physical attendance, as well as laboratory duration. Instead, we opted to turn these restrictions into opportunities to study peer-to-peer communication as a means to enhance in-person experimentation. Here, a two-week high performance liquid and gas chromatography (HPLC and GC) module uses centralized student communication between peer groups to not only maintain but increase quality laboratory experiences. Students rotate between two chromatography experiments to ensure each person gains exposure to foundational separations techniques. The module's first week focuses on method development, while the second week highlights method validation. Since HPLC and GC can accommodate similar experimental objectives, students receive comparable method development and validation experiences no matter which specific instrument they are assigned to that week. By integrating communication into the experimental process and adding peer accountability to the laboratory's design, the authors observed an increase in laboratory report words and figures when compared to the prior years' reports. Student questionnaires also indicated structured rotation and group communication increased student interest and investment in obtaining and reporting quality data.
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- 2023
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44. My Favorite Assignment--A Storm Surge of Teaching Innovations
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Whalen, D. Joel and Drehmer, Charles
- Abstract
This article presents a curated collection of 10 teaching innovations debued at the Association for Business Communication's 87th annual meeting held in Tampa, Florida, USA, and online October 2022. This "My Favorite Assignment" 27th edition introduces readers to classroom-ready ideas to help students gain personal and professional development, and a host of fresh assignment topics designed to invigorate both classic and new assignments. Teaching support materials--instructions to students, stimulus materials, slides, grading rubrics, frequently asked questions, Internet links, and sample student projects--are downloadable from the Association for Business Communication and DePaul University Center for Sales Leadership websites.
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- 2023
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45. A Systematic Review on Inquiry-Based Writing Instruction in Tertiary Settings
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Lin, Vivien, Barrett, Neil E., Liu, Gi-Zen, and Chen, Howard Hao-Jan
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In science disciplines, students need sufficient and well-designed support to successfully gain writing competence along the different stages of their writing development. This study examines effective inquiry-based writing pedagogies and the contextualization of scientific writing instruction for supporting student writers in the scientific community. The researchers first systematically reviewed effective pedagogical practices that can help students gain writing competence through inquiry-based learning, then explicated how scientific writing is situated in inquiry-based writing instruction (IBWI) with respect to text structures using a genre-based approach. A systematic review of 40 empirical studies published between 2000 and 2021 was conducted. The researchers examined the pedagogies, methods, and models that effectively support IBWI and identified some emerging trends that aim to raise undergraduates' scientific writing communicative competence. Implications for how scientific writing should be situated in IBWI were provided to help disciplinary faculty respond more precisely to science students' writing needs in tertiary settings.
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- 2023
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46. Cartographic Literacy Can Support Social Change Approaches in Technical Communication Courses
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Santee, Joy
- Abstract
Instruction in cartographic or map literacy in technical communication courses can support pedagogies promoting social change. Students must develop an ability to read, understand, interpret, use, and critique maps in technical communication contexts. This article argues that attention to cartographic literacy can build on existing visual literacies to promote critical understanding of how to use and create maps that engage with issues related to social change. A description of a sample assignment is included to introduce cartographic literacy in undergraduate technical communication courses. Student map examples support the conclusion that students benefit from instruction in cartographic literacy and that cartographic literacy can be an important component of technical communication pedagogies that work toward social justice.
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- 2023
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47. Designing Interculturally: Adopting a Social Justice Research Framework for 'Seeing Difference'
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Pennell, Therese I.
- Abstract
This paper suggests adding a social justice framework to the questions that Kostelnick suggests to help students investigate culture in "Seeing Difference." Using visual rhetoric to teach technical communication is beneficial for students; however, problematic representations of culture may unintentionally appear in visual design and are easy to overlook. Using a social justice framework that promotes a contextual study of culture should allow technical communication instructors to prepare students to investigate the social and political aspects of culture. This paper, therefore, revisits "Seeing Difference" and asks that technical communication instructors guide students to research sociopolitical aspects of culture and visuals to develop designs that are interculturally appropriate.
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- 2023
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48. Beyond 'See Figure 1': A Heuristic for Writing about Figures and Tables
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Moskovitz, Cary
- Abstract
Visual elements such as graphs, tables, and diagrams are essential components of scientific writing. Although scientific writing textbooks and guides often contain information on how to design such visuals, little has been written on how to effectively discuss those visuals within the text. This article offers a novel heuristic for teaching students how to effectively execute these "passages about visuals" in a way that is both conceptually simple enough to be understood by novices yet rich enough to accommodate the complexity of expert scientific writing. The heuristic consists of a set of "moves": announce, orient, observe, and explain. Following an explanation of the moves, readers are walked through a variety of examples showing the moves in context and noting the different ways the moves are arranged and executed in published scientific research articles. Pedagogical implications and approaches for using the heuristic in the classroom are then discussed.
- Published
- 2023
49. Lost in 'Translation'? A Set of Writing Workshops Improves Molecular Medicine Honours Students' Perceptions of Their Scientific Report Writing Skills
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Owen, Gavin R., Whalley, Natalie, and Brenner, Elisabeth
- Abstract
Undergraduate science degrees in South Africa seldom offer explicit courses focussing on improving the disciplinary writing skills required for effectively communicating scientific research. Similarly, most students entering the 'Honours' degree in Molecular Medicine at a South African university have not commonly been afforded opportunities to develop appropriate scientific writing and thinking skills. Aspiring to improve writing abilities, in 2017 we introduced a set of writing workshops involving iterative writing activities of scientific report sections with dialogic feedback from the facilitator. This study aimed to interrogate whether the workshops achieved the intended outcomes by conducting a post-course survey to ascertain the perceptions of the Molecular Medicine students. We also compared the grades awarded for the scientific reports in years before and since the implementation of the workshops. Students highlighted numerous ways that the workshops had improved their ability to write sections of a scientific report, while the average grade for the scientific report also increased significantly since the introduction of the workshops. These results reveal that the structure and activities of our workshops can teach scientific writing skills to early-postgraduate level bioscience students with relatively little disruption to the existing curriculum and help inform the format of future writing workshops.
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- 2023
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50. Effects of Using Adjunct Model of Content-Based Instruction on Students' Technical Report Writing Performance
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Chekol, Assefa, Shiferie, Kassie, and Teshome, Seyoum
- Abstract
This study aimed to investigate effects of adjunct model of content-based instruction on EFL students' technical report writing performance. A quasi-experimental design was employed to attain the main objective of the study. It included sixty-four mechanical engineering students in the control group (31) and experimental group (33). The experimental group participants were taught technical report writing skills using adjunct content-based instruction, and the control group participants were taught the same lesson through the conventional method for eight weeks. Writing tests and interviews were employed to collect the data. One-way MANOVA was applied to analyze the data collected using the tools. The findings revealed that the students participated in the adjunct EFL program outperformed the ones who were instructed through the conventional approach. They improved their skills of writing task achievement, cohesion and coherence, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy significantly. The result also showed that the experimental group students had positive perceptions about adjunct content-based instruction in learning technical report writing. Based on the findings, it was recommended that adjunct content-based instruction could be incorporated into teaching technical report writing at colleges and universities.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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