Professional Documents
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Your Department
is widely successful. UNTs technical communication department was ranked 3rd in the
United States by Education Portal and enjoys a 100% post-graduation employment rate. However, these rankings and
successes are based largely on the perceptions of outsiders. If UNTs own students had the same information and the
same power, would UNTs technical communication department enjoy the same applause it does today? We, the members
of the French Toast Mafia, have gained skills and incite through our experiences with the technical communications
department, but have also noticed some severe lacking in the utilization of both space and resources. For this reason, we
ask you, Dr. Brenda Sims, to hear our story and make the necessary changes to continue the success of the Technical
Communications Department and to simultaneously improve the experiences and performances of your students.
Distracting
The current layout of the classroom interrupts the thought processes of both
students and teacher. Students coming in late must walk in front of the lecturing
professor to get to their seats, and students leaving at different times disrupt other
groups. During the lecture all students have to turn from their desks to see the
presentation because not one of the computers faces the smart board. The professor
struggles to maneuver around the room to hand back papers and help the students
who ask, making the task both difficult and time consuming.
Limiting
In the modern era, technical communication has expanded into a
multimedia realm, and yet technical communications students
are limited to only written documents. With all of societys
technical advances many companies communicate by audio
and/or video. TECM students will be at a disadvantage if the
program does not evolve to teach them the skills necessary to be
competitive and effective in these media. Furthermore, there is
no professional space to film videos for projects, hold
interviews, or practice presentations without background noise
Rearrange the furniture. A new layout with the desks facing the smart board
makes a huge difference. Students will no longer bump into their neighbors and
strain their necks, but most importantly they will be forced to face the board which
inclines them to pay more attention and improve grades.
The Cost of these improvements is relatively low, with high returns and room for a flexible budget. The most
significant cost comes from the laptops, but this is an adjustment that could be made over several years. Most students
will have their own laptop that they could be encouraged to bring to class. The school laptops would only be for
students who didnt have one that they could check out for the class period. Using this system, not all classrooms
would need to have enough laptops for all students. Even replacing just a few laptops a year would help create more
space and a better group environment. Note that the projected cost below assumes all desktops in the department
would be replaced. Replacing all the desktops is ideal, though not necessary to produce a marked change in the student
environment. A summary of the costs and a proposed time table can be seen below.
Task
Rearrange Furniture
Integrate Laptops
Soundproof AUDB 312A
Replace Scratch Drive
Estimated Cost
$0
$58,800,800,880/year
$2000
$0
Total Cost
$60,800
The Future of this department depends on whether or not it can be competitive. Making space for students to
collaborate, introducing a multimedia environment, and ensuring students have access to the resources they need are
just a few steps in this direction. These days its pretty easy to get left behind technologically; technical writing is a
continually evolving field, and to keep up so should be the education of our technical writers.