Julie E. Sharp

Using portfolios in the classroom

This paper presents a review of the literature (including World Wide Web sources) and a discussion of using student portfolios in the college classroom. Topics discussed are the definition of portfolios, contents, uses, evaluation methods, effectiveness and suggested sources for further research. Specifics from various college courses, including engineering, writing, mathematics, and science courses, illustrate the concepts. Three engineering courses are showcased to give an overview of differences in portfolio types, contents and evaluation.

Learning styles and technical communication: improving communication and teamwork skills

This paper presents a rationale and methods for teaching Kolb learning style theory in the technical communication classroom. Specifically, the author presents Kolb learning style theory and examples of applying it in two different courses, a technical communication course for engineering majors and a combined chemical engineering lab/technical communication course. In these courses, students use learning style theory to devise communication strategies and analyze lab group interaction.

Helping students (and ultimately faculty) write an effective recommendation letter

Both undergraduate and graduate students need recommendation letters to help them reach various educational and career objectives. Professors sometimes have difficulty getting sufficient information from students to make each letter unique and persuasive. Students often have trouble writing specific details to substantiate their claims. Without this information, writing a recommendation letter can place unnecessary time demands on the professor. This pilot project is designed to help students provide sufficient specifics for an excellent letter of recommendation and to improve writing skills. The authors have devised a checklist to help students write a recommendation letter. The checklist can also serve as a useful career planning tool, establishing a framework on which to build and a guideline for analyzing the gap between school and work. The authors also suggest a handout to generate the first draft. Using the checklist can empower any student to develop an effective letter of recommendation.

Grading technical papers during student conferences

Engineering, technology, and technical communication professors who promote writing excellence in their classrooms face the age-old problem of handling the paper load. On the one hand, professors want to include more writing assignments. On the other hand, they must find enough time to grade the extra papers. One efficient and effective way to grade writing is in an individual conference with each student. For her classes, the author has adapted the individual conference method of Roger Garrison (1981) to use in on-the-spot grading with a grading scale. This method offers many benefits, the most important being that it is a powerful teaching tool rather than just a tool for assessment. The individual conference can be used not only to grade, but to discuss an already graded paper and to discuss numerous drafts before grading a final draft.

Work in progress: alumni mentoring of engineers in a technical communication course

This pilot project integrated the Vanderbilt engineering alumni council mentoring initiative in a technical communication course for all engineering majors. An opportunity for networking with alumni and learning about workforce communication was designed into a two-and-a-half-week report writing assignment working individually and in groups, 41 students interviewed 18 alumni and other professionals about workplace communication and reported their findings. Project components included an alumnus guest speaker and a post-project, alumni-sponsored luncheon attended by 27 students. Results showed that graduates spent a large portion of their work time on various written and oral communication tasks. Alumni and student questionnaire responses indicate that the project was beneficial and should be continued. Using an analytical five-point scale, students rated including a mentoring project next semester with a 4.1/5.0 while alumni rated it 4.6.

E-teaching simply with e-mail

This paper describes e-mail as a simple, relatively low-tech, and effective way to enhance teaching. Focusing on the boon rather than the bane of e-mail, it presents practical methods for using e-mail as a teaching tool and for communicating with students more effectively. It reports results of a two-semester survey of engineering students in a technical communication course, updating the previous report of a one-semester survey. Items receiving the most responses from 59 participants indicate recommendations to faculty about communicating with e-mail in the following categories: format and organization, reminders and assignment information, usage, frequency, e-mail and the Web, and miscellaneous tips.

A resource for teaching a Learning-Styles/Teamwork module with the soloman-felder index of learning styles

This work can serve as a resource for instructors interested in a course module for teaching teamwork skills using the Soloman-Felder Index of Learning Styles (ILS). After presenting a rationale for the module, I suggest in-class activities and homework assignments from which instructors can construct their own module of up to three one-hour segments. This resource is adapted from a module I created for the Vanderbilt Engineering School ES 130 freshman introductory course, and has been endorsed by Prof. Richard Felder. At his suggestion, I have included a problem-solving exercise with the thinking/feeling dimension of the Myers-Briggs personality theory, a dimension affecting interpersonal conflicts.

Evaluating oral presentations in engineering classes

The paper discusses effective methods of evaluating oral presentations for engineering professors who have questions about grading fairly and consistently. Recommended methods include establishing and clearly explaining specific criteria, devising evaluation sheets, videotaping presentations, and assigning peer and self evaluations. Two types of evaluation sheets are discussed: the dichotomous scale and the analytical scale.

Work in Progress: Using Mock Telephone Interviews with Alumni to Teach Job Search Communication

In this pilot project, engineering students in a technical communication course at Vanderbilt University paired with engineering alumni to participate in mock telephone interviews. The purpose of the project was to prepare engineers for job search communication, particularly interviewing techniques, and to establish a networking relationship with alumni. A total of 75 students and 33 alumni participated over two semesters. The project included an alumnus guest speaker, a training workshop in interview techniques, an interview chart assignment, the telephone interview with an assigned alumnus/alumna, and a memo summarizing the experience. Students and alumni completed questionnaires to assess the project. Both groups rated the project very highly and recommended continuing it in the next semester with a student rating of 4.7 and alumni rating of 4.9 on a 5-point scale. In their end-of-course, anonymous self-assessment of meeting course objectives, students rated their knowledge of interviewing techniques before the project as 2.1/5.0 and afterward as 4.4/5.0

Workshop - putting more punch in PowerPoint

Its a PowerPoint world out there: every day, around the globe, literally millions of professionals, workers, and students alike are alternately entertained, bored, or downright assaulted by Microsofts ubiquitous presentation manager. As the reigning gold standard, PowerPoint offers speakers a whole host of seductive special effects and prefabricated designs to make developing a presentation a snap. This, however, is precisely the problem; increasingly, speakers fall prey to the array of flashy accouterments and forget the purpose of presentation graphics: to visually enhance the speakers message and assist the audience in retaining the information. This workshop will focus on providing information, via a variety of activities, that will enable participants to develop more visually pleasing presentations, which will, in turn, result in an improved experience for the audience, whether it be students or professional colleagues.