RE: Tech Writing Curriculum
1) There are several distinct writing workflows out there that are
represented well by a core of tools. <snip>
True, but . . . that core is still expensive. And I'd still maintain that with Word, a WinWord compiler, and a basic HTML editor, you can do a heck of a lot to ground students in key principles.
2) Adobe and other software manufacturers offer hefty academic pricing
discounts for students.
They're not as hefty as you might suppose, and since Virginia's legislature and governor couldn't agree on a budget last year, money is tighter than usual (don't get me started on finding money - it's there, but finding it is a challenge. . . But the ins, outs, and agonies of state university funding in difficult times is WAY off topic for this list . . . .)
3) I don't think it out of line for a university to require a student buy
$400 worth of academic software, when usually students are required to spend
$80 per textbook for a class and many universities, including Virginia Tech,
require students purchase computers costing $2+ thousand.
I have students giving me work on disk because they can't afford $25 for ink for their printers. $400 for one class, plus textbooks, and we'd be strung up by our ears.
4) Labs can have DTP stations where FM and Quark are installed, and other
Web stations, where DW and FrontPage are installed, just as easily as labs
continue to have programming tools installed for CS majors.
True, but then how do you teach students to use it? "Ok, six of you to a work station at a time. Now, everyone watch as one Bob presses these keys. . . . . "
Learning any of these programs is time-intensive, and when you have a limited number of credit hours to work with, and a limited amount of time for any one course, you have to start picking and choosing.
Consider how long it takes you as an experienced user to learn a new tool. Now imagine yourself one of 25 students in a class with 6 copies of that tool. And while you might think a name like Virginia Tech means we get students who know computers, many of our majors (as opposed to the folks in the CS Department) aren't always on the cutting edge. Getting them to understand Word's revision tracking is half a class period.
One option we're working on is getting a half dozen copies and running intensive workshops, but that means that as faculty we either have to find grant money to support the workshops or do them for free in our copious spare time. And it's complicated further by the fact that we don't run the lab; the person in charge of the lab has to look at his expenditures in light of costs & benefits: $3000 for a 6 copies of program that will be used by 1 or 2 classes a semester, versus that same money for something else that 80 sections of first-year writing can use just isn't a complex decision. The budget analysis cost comparisons are pretty complicated. Believe me, we've asked for all of this, and are still searching for grant money in our spare time. . . .
I'm not whining, mind you. I think we can do a good job for our students with what we have. And if someone handed me copies of Frame and ForeHelp (my bias showing ;-> ) for our lab, I'd be racing to install them and try to work them into my courses. But when money and time are both tight, I (and the guy who runs the computer labs) have to opt for what's going to yield the highest Benefit/Cost ratio, right?
And I still say, if I can teach them to do it in Word, and lay out solid principles that can transfer to whatever software they have to use, so much the better.
Marie
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RE: Tech Writing Curriculum: From: Brierley, Sean
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