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Business Writing
Instructor: Shannon Dryden
sdryden@uidaho.edu| brink hall #127
208 885-6156 |office hours: T/Th 10:30-12:00
This course will help you build communication competencies identified by the
United States Department of Labor and industry focus groups as the most
important to employers. In addition to problem solving and writing skills,
employers list oral communication skills as among the most important for
graduates.
Moreover, the ability to effectively apply these skills within intercultural contexts is
highly valued in today’s global workplace. Finally, business communication is
increasingly produced across a wide variety of multi-media platforms requiring
skills in aural, oral, textual, and visual literacies. The projects in this course are
designed to help you meet these challenges and prepare you to successfully
communicate in today's workplace.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After completing this course, you will be able to:
respond to rhetorical situations that arise within business environments
complicated by ethical, political, social, and cultural concerns,
learn and apply specific conventions used in US business communities such as
tone, style, and genre and adjust those conventions to meet the needs of
culturally diverse audiences,
communicate solutions to rhetorical problems through a variety of print and
electronic genres
TEXTBOOK. The textbook is free and accessed through the course.
Grades: Final grades are based on successful completion of the following:
Participation in Brainstorming and Peer Review Forums 225 points
Project 1: Interpersonal Communication 125
Project 2: Visual Communication 150
Project 3: Intercultural Communication 150
Project 4: Crisis Communication 250
Project 5: Professional Identity 100
Total Points Possible 1000 points
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Project Descriptions
PROJECT 1: Interpersonal Communication. In this project, you will respond to a
business case study requiring written communication to three different
audiences using both external and internal workplace genres. Next, you will
create an audio-only podcast about presentation speaking style.
PROJECT 2: Visual Communication. In this project, you will create a Public
Service Announcements for a client and justify design choices in a screencast.
PROJECT 3: Intercultural Communication. In this project, you will compose a
creative design brief to plan and create an intercultural slidecast guide for an
American business or organization whose employees will be soon be working in
another country and culture.
PROJECT 4: Crisis Communication. In this project, you will gather and analyze
communication before, during, and after a crisis event using a research
dossier in Evernote. You will then draw upon this research to write a white
paper and compose a screencast that analyzes a spokesperson's apology.
This project includes composing and populating an electronic research
dossier.
PROJECT 5: Professional Identity. In this project, you will write a targeted
cover letter and resume or curriculum vitae and create a LinkedIn profile.
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Course Policies
1. Flipped Classroom. I teach my writing courses as a flipped classroom. In this
teaching style, students complete a large portion of the projects and
participation assignments during class.
2. Attendance and Participation. My expectations are for you to regularly
attend class and participate.
I treat students who take courses from me, however, like the adults they are
so if you are sick (or have a sick child), please stay home and get well. If you
have a genuine emergency requiring you to be absent, then take care of it.
You do not need to email me if you are absent or need to be absent, but not
attending class without a good reason is just plain silly.
3. Technology Requirements.
Laptop, Notebook, or Tablet with Keyboard. Students are required to bring
a machine that is fully charged to class each day the class meets.
Microsoft Word. Students are strongly encouraged to use Microsoft Word
because it is the most commonly used software in the workplace today.
Microsoft Office is provided at no extra cost to all students and as part of
the UI Microsoft Licensing Agreement. You can install it on up to five
separate devices. To install, to ITS Technology Services
https://www.uidaho.edu/infrastructure/its/self-help/ms-office/office-365
Microphone. Most computers have an integrated microphone that will
work fine for this course. If you need to purchase one, however, here are
two inexpensive microphones that bblearn recommends: Logitech 1
($14.99) and Logitech 2 ($19.99).
Reliable Backup. You will need a reliable backup to store the latest drafts
of your work other than the hard drive of your computer or an easily lost
thumb drive. Here is one I recommend http://www.dropbox.comFlipped
Classroom. I teach my writing courses as a flipped classroom. In this
teaching style, students complete a large portion of the projects and
participation assignments during class.
4. Multimedia Project Deliverables. Four of the projects require both written and
multimedia communication deliverables. Students are not expected to have
prior experience in producing multimedia products and will be invited to
create these using free, cloud-computing tools that will also host the file.
Should you choose to create your digital media another way, your file must
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be hosted in the cloud and play as a video without a user needing to download
because you are practicing how to share media as it is shared in workplace
environments.
5. Accepted File Formats. The following are the only accepted file formats:
Print Deliverables: Word or PDF.
PSA Billboard or Poster Deliverable: jpg, png, or other image file; Word, PPT
or PPTX, PDF file; or the URL where the file is hosted.
Multimedia Deliverables: URL where the file is hosted.
Digital media files (MP3, MP4, etc.) are not accepted in this course.
6. Deadlines. All work is due by 11:59 PM on the day/date indicated in
the course schedules. Late assignments will lose one letter grade (or the
equivalent number of points) per day.
If, when I start to grade your work, a file will not open or a URL link does not
work, I will notify you by email and you will be given 24 hours to submit work
correctly in bblearn, but a late work point penalty will apply. To avoid this
problem, verify your submission (see policy 6).
7. Verify Submissions to Avoid Point Penalties. When submitting assignments,
students are responsible for verifying that files they uploaded are not
corrupted and will open and that URLs work.
This means you must return to the submissions box and open any files you
uploaded and check that a URL works.
If your work does not submit correctly or if you failed to submit part of it, you
will need to submit all work again in a single attempt because the last
submission is the only one I grade.
8. Compress Files Over 1 MB. Your work will lose points if the file you submit is
over 1 MB because large files slow down my ability to grade work efficiently.
9. University Disability Support Services. Reasonable accommodations will
be made for students with disabilities. Disability Support Services must
approve your request: (208) 885-6307• dss@uidaho.edu
10.Plagiarism. Violation the University of Idaho Student Code of Conduct will
result in a course grade of ‘F'.
11.Contacting Me. You are invited to email me when you have a question or to
request a writing conference or feedback on a draft through email. You may
expect a reply within 24 hours.
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12.How to Prepare for a Conference or Request Feedback on a Draft.
I don’t provide a general “please look it over before I turn it in” type of
review. Here’s why: I think all too often students get in the habit (frequently
encouraged unwittingly by professors) to show a teacher their work, the
teacher then says fix X, Y, and Z. And the student then fixes X, Y, and Z. All
this does, however, is teach a student how to comply with an authority figure.
It does nothing to help students become confident and more in charge of
their writing.
So, to prepare for a writing conference or request feedback on a draft
through email, do the following: review your work, and then if you think some
aspects are not effective, explain either during an in-person conference or
through email what problem(s) you see and be specific, next explain what
you did to try to solve the problem(s), and finally why you are not sure if your
solution(s) worked.
