Written Communication Apr 2012

Pairing Courses Across the Disciplines

Julie Watts University of Wisconsin–Stout ; Rebecca E. Burnett Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract

Writing performance of a complex recommendation report produced by student teams for an actual client during a 15-week semester was compared in a writing-intensive Agronomy 356 course and in paired Agronomy 356/ English 309 courses. The longitudinal study investigated differences that existed between reports produced for each learning environment in terms of argument effectiveness, document usability, and professionalism. Three agronomy and three professional communication raters ranked the 12 lengthy reports in the sample. The study found that all top-rated reports were generated in the paired courses and all lowest-rated reports were generated in the stand-alone agronomy course. Four pedagogical factors appear influential in this result: working in dual problem-solving spaces, pushing the boundaries on problem solving, incorporating workplace realities, and using just-in-time teaching.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2012-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088312438525
Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing across the curriculum empirical research technical communication professional writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

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