Writing and Tech Comm

I teach a lot: at the local UC, the local Extension, and for the STC. I teach technical communication topics to people who either want to learn more or are being forced to learn more by their program.

As a first assignment, I always ask for 1000 words on something the person is passionate about. I want to hear the passion in the assignment. I want to hear why this thing makes the writer excited.

So why do I do it? Well, several reasons, depending on the audience.

1. If the person is taking the class to learn more about tech comm, I want to see how well they write outside the confines of the rigid structure tech comm provides. An awful lot of tech comm people are not that great at writing overall, but within the restrictions of tech comm, they are quite good.
2. If this is an engineering student and they have to take the class, I want to see how well they can write telling me about something that excites them. How well do they establish the discussion? Can they show me why they love the topic? Can they organize?
3. And, regardless of the reason, I get to learn about my students. I’m terrible at names. Just awful. I need a story to attach to people to remember them. And in a large stand-up class or a completely online class, I don’t get to know people the way I want. But this essay gives me a story to attach to a person. It helps me remember these people because I remember that someone was interested in Sake, for example.

Regardless of the reason I have the student, I love this assignment. It’s so fun to read about what the person thinks is exciting about something. Most of us have something that excites us – why not write 1000 words about it to share?

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