October 12, 2008

Curriculum Design and Consulting

Strategic Redesign and Implementation of UTEP Workplace Writing Curriculum

In the fall of 2007, I redesigned and piloted comprehensive curricular changes to our program’s extant Workplace Writing curriculum based upon three core competencies:

  • The inclusion of disciplinary content and theories of rhetoric and professional communication that address Spinuzzi’s (2006) contention that knowledge workers need to become, first and foremost, strong rhetors
  • The cultivation of rhetorical dispositions and a proclivity for undergraduate research and dissemination
  • The alignment with a redesigned Technical Writing curriculum, and the planned development of a vertical curriculum for our forthcoming undergraduate Rhetoric and Writing Studies major

The programmatic adoption of the redesigned Workplace Writing and Organizational Communication curriculum began during the Fall of 2008, and includes the following ongoing activities:

  • Organizing and leading workshops for PhD faculty, Assistant Instructors, and adjunct faculty on curricular philosophy and pedagogical implementation
  • Providing mentoring to instructors teaching the course for the first time

Writing Curriculum Consultant, College of Business Administration

Earlier this year, I developed and wrote The 2008 College of Business Administration Writing Initiative, a report that detailed strategic opportunities for incorporating complex and targeted writing experiences within the core College of Business curriculum.

As a paid consultant in this role, I worked directly with Dr. Robert Nachtmann, Dean of the College of Business Administration, and Dr. Steve Johnson, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

The report served as the initial component of a larger grant project designed to incorporate more concrete and effectual writing experiences into the College of Business core curriculum.

My report offered concrete, strategic writing assignments and assessments designed to amplify and draw upon disciplinary knowledge in COBA content areas such as Finance, Accounting, Management, Marketing, and Business Law.

I continue to work on the implementation and assessment of this project, with the collaboration of Dr. Kate Mangelsdorf, Rhetoric and Writing Studies.  During the Spring of 2009, the first three sections to synergistically incorporate the ethos of both projects will be offered to COBA students, and will include a linkage between Workplace Writing and Organizational Communication and BUSN 3301.