Writing Across the Curriculum in a Technology Class

31, మే 2014, శనివారం

Writing Across the Curriculum in a Technology Class

Technology courses are not typically thought of to be writing-intensive, even though programming is certainly a kind of writing — if not considered to be a traditional genre — and good programming has many elements in common with any type of good writing, such as clarity, organization, and elegance.

Still, it is beneficial to technology students to engage with discipline-specific writing outside of programming within their courses. This can include commenting their code, writing up descriptions and deliverables for larger projects, and writing abstracts summarizing the research of others (or their own).

For those in graduate-level courses or with an interest in pursuing a graduate degree, it would also be useful practice to write literature reviews. Additionally, students can write pieces in the style of academic articles, with introduction, theoretical background, research model and hypothesis, critical analysis, conclusion, and further work.

Here are some specific ideas for using Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) principles in a general technology course, with a focus on using writing as a vehicle for critical thinking:

You just got hired at a company as a junior-level developer, but for the work that you are doing, you are expected to use a programming language that you think is not well-suited to the task. Write a persuasive email to a senior-level developer telling her what language you think would work better for the task, and support your view with evidence.

A fellow Computer Science student at another school is learning a different programming language than you in his introductory programming course. Write a dialogue between the two of you, with one arguing why it doesn’t matter what programming language you learn first, and the other insisting that the first language does make a difference. (This can also be done in pairs rather than with an imaginary student.)

Your parents have an old CRT monitor that they don’t want to give up because they don’t want to buy a new one. Create an online slideshow (such as a Prezi or Google Drive Presentation) to email to your parents explaining why it is worthwhile to purchase a new LCD monitor.

Create a short video (appropriate to upload on YouTube) explaining to someone your age that is not tech-savvy the difference between RAM and hard drive in terms of memory/storage. Now create a second short video explaining it to your grandparents.

These assignments are all designed to give students a particular audience in mind, which is helpful when they attempt the prompt. They also allow students to reflect on their own learning through writing, and to communicate their knowledge in a way they may have to do outside of the classroom. For technology students in particular, balancing traditional forms of writing (as in the first two prompts) with digital writing (the last two prompts) can be valuable to their future work in their field.

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