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Challenges the recently proposed definition of the public intellectual. States that true public intellectuals (1) combine their research, teaching, and service efforts in order to address certain social issues important to community members in underserviced neighborhoods; and (2) believe in protecting scholarly autonomy through popularizing intellectual work.

Service learning, an expanding pedagogical movement, educates students to volunteer their expertise for the benefit of society. Teachers of business and technical writing can apply this pedagogy by assigning students to write for nonprofits. Such assignments prepare students for both workplace writing and responsible citizenship. To help our profession consider the appropriateness of this pedagogy, this article describes the origins of the movement and proposes a rationale for it in our field. This article then explains sequential projects and teaching methods intended to reduce problems related to collaborative writing for nonprofits. Last, resources are identified to help prepare grant proposals, perhaps the most beneficial kind of document for nonprofits.

Uses the example of service learning to examine connections between and definitions of public and private as they are deployed in writing, literacy studies, and the field of English. Argues that, done effectively, service learning fits well into an English Studies that is reconsidering its own boundaries and internal relationships.

Contends that service learning--community service linked to academic courses--adds a valuable experiential dimension to composition classes. Describes service learning at Raritan Valley Community College where in composition it fits as an optional alternative for the research paper assignment that is the culminating course project. Discusses how projects are developed and implemented.

Many technical writing programs across the country have their students go out into the community and do writing projects for local businesses, campus organizations, government agencies, or nonprofit organizations. Few, however, take advantage of the increasingly popular pedagogy known as service learning. This article describes how to set up such service-learning courses and how to anticipate certain types of problems. Also discussed are some of the many benefits, both pedagogical and civic/humanitarian, that this truly real-world approach brings to the teaching of technical writing and, potentially, to the teaching of other forms of professional writing.

Experiential learning theory provides a theoretical foundation for studying technical communication internships. This study explores, through the perspective of the experiential learning cycle model developed by David Kolb, internships in technical communication. Participants in technical communication internship experiences were asked to provide, from their different perspectives, information that described the experience. Program directors, industrial supervisors, and student interns provided different views of what they had experienced, illustrating that most had entirely different perspectives on their level of participation in creating, supervising, and evaluating this form of educational experience. Besides describing technical communication programs in the United States more comprehensively, the results of this study raise questions about how the respondents perceived their experience and how the “reality” of these perceptions often conflict. When these findings are explored within the epistemology conceptualized by Kolb's experiential learning theory, a framework is established for more systemic procedures and standards that will enhance the internship as a credible learning experience.

It is observed that advances in information technology are drastically changing the profession of technical communication and the role of the technical communicator in developing and managing information. It is argued that educators must face the challenge posed by these advances to prepare students for the profession as it is now and as it will be in the future. It is suggested that one answer to this challenge is experiential learning theory, which places experience at the center of the learning process.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>

The technical communication program in the English Department at Oklahoma State University is described. The author describes how teachers can structure course work so the students complete assignments similar to projects they will complete as professionals. To provide experiential learning outside the classroom, it is suggested that educators include internships or cooperative work-study opportunities in their academic programs, encourage students to become active members in professional organizations, and help students complete professional activities such as giving papers at meetings and conferences and publishing articles in newsletters, conference proceedings, and journals.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">></ETX>

It has long been recognized that one man's problems are another man's opportunities. But, whether one thinks of solving problems or exploiting opportunities, one must still apply skills and competencies in a systematic and clear manner. How to develop student skills and competencies as these relate to thinking systematically as a prerequisite to clarity of self-expression is the topic of this paper. To succeed in this task, departments of business and English must work together to enhance business students' thinking and writing skills. The student studying courses in his major area needs the English professor to guide him through a systematic problem-solving approach to report writing. Here the College of Business and the College of Arts and Science can benefit by requiring business majors to complete a technical professional writing course through the English Department which uses experiential learning as the focal point in report writing. The result is that the student writes in and studies an area of interest, but learns to apply the problem-solving approach to writing as he concentrates on a typical problem in the field of business. Students place a high value on this type of learning, and the two disciplines work well together in accomplishing their goals.