ENGL210: Technical Writing

Course Syllabus

Welcome to ENGL210: Technical Writing. General information on this course and its requirements can be found below.

Course Designer: Brandi Granett and Merton Lee

Course Description: Detailed course on technical writing in a workplace context, which covers audience analysis, memo writing and internal communications, form letters, presentations and the use of visuals, process documentation, proposals, and writing in the Internet era.

Getting Started

After familiarizing yourself with the following course syllabus, log in or sign up and click the “Enroll me in this course” button near the top of the page. Once enrolled, navigate to Unit 1 of the course to read the unit introduction and then click on "Unit 1: Audience Analysis" link to access the first unit, which will provide all links and instructions for unit specific course resources.

Evaluation and Minimum Passing Scores

Unlike other Saylor courses, the Final Exam in this course is not automatically scored by Saylor, though it does provide an opportunity for you to self-grade using the scoring rubrics provided. Therefore, true "certification" would be contingent upon third-party evaluation of your written work, which will be attached to your course completion certificate as evidence items. Those wishing to have their proficiency in Technical Writing assessed should submit these evidence items to a qualified reviewer, who can then endorse your certificate if proficiency is met. 

Only the self-graded final exam must be completed to earn your certificate and have your score added to your transcript. However, in order to adequately prepare for this exam, we recommend that you work through the materials in each unit. Throughout the course you will find other self-graded practice assessments that will help you master material and gauge your learning.

Technical Requirements

This course is delivered fully online. You will be required to have access to a computer or web-capable mobile device and have consistent access to the internet to either view or download the necessary course resources and to attempt any auto-graded course assessments and the final exam.

To access the full course including assessments and the final exam, you will need to be logged into your Saylor Academy account and enrolled in the course. If you do not already have an account, you may create one, free of charge, here. Although you can access some course resources without being logged into your account, it’s advised that you log in to maximize your course experience. For example, some of the accessibility and progress tracking features are only available when you are logged in.

For additional technical guidance check out Saylor’s tech-FAQ and the Moodle LMS tutorial.

Fees

There is no cost to access and enroll in this course. All required course resources linked throughout the course, including textbooks, videos, webpages, activities, etc are accessible for no charge. This course also contains a free final exam and course completion certificate. This course does offer the opportunity for college credit though Thomas Edison State University's TECEP exam, for which there are associated fees. Please see the information in the next section for specific cost information related to the TECEP exam.

Thomas Edison State University TECEP Exam Alignment

This course is designed to align with a Thomas Edison State University TECEP examination. Visit the TECEP website, and click on "Technical Writing (ENG-201-TE)" to download the content guide for the exam. For more information about this partnership, and earning credit through Thomas Edison State University, go here.

Time Commitment

While learning styles can vary considerably and any particular student will take more or less time to learn or read, we estimate that the "average" student will take 86 hours to complete this course. Each overall unit within the course is similarly tagged with an estimated time advisory. We recommend that you work through the course at a pace that is comfortable for you and allows you to make regular (daily, or at least weekly) progress. It's a good idea to also schedule your study time in advance and try as best as you can to stick to that schedule.

It may be useful to take a look at these time advisories, to determine how much time you have over the next few weeks to complete each unit, and then to set goals for yourself. Perhaps you can sit down with your calendar and decide to complete Unit 1 (a total of 11 hours) over the course of your first week and Unit 2 (a total of 10 hours) on your second week, etc.

Tips/Suggestions

Learning new material can be challenging, so below we've compiled a few suggested study strategies to help you succeed. 

Take notes on the various terms, practices, and theories as you read. This can help you differentiate and contextualize concepts and later provide you with a refresher as you study.

As you progress through the materials, take time to test yourself on what you have retained and how well you understand the concepts. The process of reflection is important for creating a memory of the materials you learn; it will increase the probability that you ultimately retain the information.

Although you may work through this course completely independently, you may find it helpful to connect with other Saylor students through the discussion forums. You may access the discussion forums at https://discourse.saylor.org.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Select the appropriate technical communications style for a given audience.
• Describe communication goals to readers in the workplace.
• Apply strategies for writing clear English.
• Utilize effective page layout and design.
• Explain how visuals aid understanding.
• Integrate effective planning and revision into technical communications.
• Differentiate among models for instruction, description, definition, and summary.

Throughout this course, you'll also see related learning outcomes identified in each unit. You can use the learning outcomes to help organize your learning and gauge your progress.

Suggested Prerequisites

In order to take this course, you should:

• have read the Saylor Student Handbook.
• have completed ENGL001 and ENGL002, or equivalent English Composition courses.