Information
Instructor: Michael J. Salvo, Assistant Professor
Office: 301B Heavilon Hall
Phone: 765-494-4425
Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 1:30-3:00pm
Also available by appointment and email
Email: salvo@purdue.edu
Course website: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~salvo/505M/

Texts
Teaching Technical Communication: Critical Issues for the Classroom.
James M. Dubinsky. Bedford/St.Martins. 2005. 0-312-41204-5

Professional Writing Online. Version 2.0. Porter, Sullivan, Johnson-Eilola.
Pearson/Longman. 2004. 0-321-22482-5

Materials
Please be sure to make numerous backup copies of all your work on different media.
I strongly recommend purchasing a USB Drive (called “thumb” or “jump” drive – 16 mb should be fine).

Course Description
Reading professional literature on the teaching of professional and technical writing. Studies of methodologies, issues of assessment, and the relationship between theory and pedagogy. This course is not part of the degree requirement. Open only to teaching assistants in the Department of English.

This course is designed for new instructors of ENGL 420 and 421. Its aim is to prepare instructors to teach both classroom and online versions of English 420, Business Writing, and English 421, Technical Writing at Purdue by introducing relevant theories and teaching strategies through readings, class discussion, and hands-on workshops.

As you begin teaching Professional Writing, we will consider distinctions between teaching and researching composition, or academic writing, with professional, or non-academic writing. While this is too simple a dichotomy, it provides a common place where we can begin exploring the unique features of professional writing. One goal is to build a broader understanding of rhetoric in a variety of pedagogical and institutional contexts. Another is to build resources for program use. Whether your primary interest is professional writing or another field, this class provides a theoretical and pedagogical basis for effectively teaching professional writing. Students will interact both with students in the service courses, 420 and 421, as well as in the professional writing major, particularly students in 306. Over the course of the semester, students will participate in online discussion, write short documents relating to the teaching of professional writing, propose a final pedagogical project, and complete the longer project designed to prepare instructors to be independent and effective professional writing teachers.