LCC 3401:Technical Communication Practices

Every major in the College of Computing requires at some point for its students to take LCC 3401. It is not particularly exciting, or enjoyable, or noteworthy; TCP is just one of those courses a student has to take to graduate, like an Ethics class or a Humanities Elective. It is one of those courses where students are required to create effective resumes, web pages, and manuals in an effort to improve their communication abilities. They give presentations and are required to incorporate multimedia into the different assignments. On the surface the course seems borderline interesting with aspirations to creativity and individuality. However, several students have found after taking the course that the assignments are often irrelevant to real life situations or presented vaguely. Additionally, this course takes a much less structured form, which, combined with often unclear directives, can lead to a more difficult learning environment.

Not all versions of a class are taught the same, however, and the version of TCP taught by Professor Daniel R. Vollaro is as different from the typical Tech class as any course you will take in the four, five (or even) six years spent here at our illustrious university. Professor Vollaro’s course “employs a “client-based” approach to teaching technical communication by matching students with real clients to complete semester-long information design projects.” What this means is that the students in his class are divided into several groups and are tasked with completing real assignments for various non-profit organizations in many different fields of work. The students choose one of four roles for the semester long course, including Project Manager, Managing Editor, Graphic Designer, and Writer/Researcher. In another break from your ‘typical’ class, grading for all assignments is significantly influenced by the client’s satisfaction. Students in the two managing positions within a group will also have some say as to how the group’s performance will be evaluated.

To prevent abuse of the position, the professor personally interviews any student who applies for a management position so he can be assured he gets, “the best possible student for the work at hand.” Unlike almost any other course here at Tech, Prof Vollaro gives most of his lecture periods over to in-group work, with the bulk of his lecture material coming right from the work done during the semester. To paraphrase him, “I might spend the first twenty minutes of a class period show-casing an incredibly well written introductory email from one of the companies to a student group and engage in discussion with the class as to what aspects of the email made it so effective.” In previous semesters, students have worked closely with Girls on the Run, The Bridge, Atlanta Union Mission, and several other corporations. In a neat twist, a student’s performance in the classroom can result in more than just an ‘A’ for the course.

After a successful semester working for Bennett Aerospace to create a novel and user-friendly website, the project manger for the student group was asked back to work for the company upon his imminent graduation. When asked why he teaches his course in such an unorthodox fashion, Professor Vollaro replied, paraphrased, “I love teaching. Research is nice, but my first focus is on educating the students who enter my classroom. To be taught properly, Tech Comm needs real audiences with significant stakes at hand. In my course, you will work harder than you might initial expect, but you will be well rewarded for your efforts.

A general shortcoming in the Tech fields is communication. It’s easy to find graduating students with Engineering skills. It’s much harder to find that plus strong communication skills.” When asked if he had any final words to tell prospective CS majors considering taking his course, he said, “The majority of my class consists of IE students, but none of the corporations are engineering specific. In fact, I’d really like more CS majors because I’d love to do more with web design and its associated applications. In fact, I’d be perfectly willing to teach a CS-only version of my class if I had enough interest.” If you are interested in learning more about Professor Vollaro or his course, please visit http://www.vollaro.com/Dan/index.html, the firewall website, or email me at klee.s.simmons@gmail.com

LCC 3401 Course Summary

LCC 3401 IS DESIGNED TO INTRODUCE STUDENTS TO THE TYPES OF DOCUMENTS AND COMMUNICATION ABILITIES REQUIRED BY THEIR FUTURE PROFESSIONS. THE COURSE FOCUSES ON AN UNDERSTANDING OF BOTH VISUAL AND VERBAL RHETORIC IN APPLICATION TO TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS.