After looking at a few fellow students' blog pages, I realized that I needed to go back and address the specifics that Dr. Rice requested via email, so here goes:
From the sidebar, you can see that my current job is in a Publications department of a large aerospace company. While I sometimes get to perform individual contributor efforts to projects (like some wiring diagrams that I am currently working on for a Maintenance Wiring Manual), most of my daily effort involves leading a team developing flight manuals and pilot checklists; maintenance, wiring and parts manuals; along with user manuals and FAA certification documentation.
The question of what I want as a future job makes me pause a bit because I get to work on really cool projects on really cool airplanes, truly enjoy what I do, make a decent living for a guy with an English degree, and see supervision or management as my next step - which doesn't sound as exciting as what I am currently doing. So with all that said, I'd like to take what I've learned from my graduate studies and put it to work implementing process improvement projects and integrating industry best practices in my workplace - that is before I retire and maybe teach technical writing or composition part time at a community college! [nice segue, eh?]
For me, composition defines the process of putting thoughts on the (physical or digital) page resulting from all aspects of a project, task, or assignment - from the planning and research stages, through the layout, editing, and re-writing stages.
Nice way to revise posts! It sounds like you'll be approach composition through a very specific lens. Of course, composition is a lot different than technical communication; the former is about learning theory and writing in the academy, and the later more about workplace writing. So, the connections you'll make will need to be drawn from something a little different than writing for publication. But, we'll move the direction of the conversations in the course to help do so.
ReplyDeleteHey Cary! Great to see you again. Looking forward to working with you in this course...which is definitely way outside my comfort zone compared to the last.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to 'meet' you, Cary! I teach at a community college, and I love it; teaching adjunct would definitely a good gig when you retire. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. Hey, just a note--I have posted a list of composition terms that would be helpful for you to define for yourself. I'll draw from these terms for your final. See http://richrice.com/5060/keywords.docx.
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