Client-Based Projects Take Student Skills into the Community

From publishing newsletters for a local Boy Scout troop to authoring a grant application to help victims of domestic violence, students in a technical communications class developed professional skills while helping advance the missions of community agencies.

Jill McCracken, PhD, assistant professor of English, incorporated civic engagement into the coursework by having students work in groups and select the agencies they wanted to create technical communications for; the group that worked with the Boy Scout troop will continue to publish their monthly newsletter on a volunteer basis.

“They believe this will solve a lot of problems in communication,” said Bryan Jernigan, one of the group members. “This eliminates the need for an hour of announcements that takes away time that could be used for learning opportunities.”

McCracken organized a Technical Communication Showcase of these client-based projects on Monday, Dec. 8, and each group presented their work to representatives of the community agencies served. Clients included the Vote No on Amendment 2 Campaign, Greater Palm Harbor YMCA, Boy Scout Troop #334, the Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg, CASA and the USF St. Petersburg Department of Languages, Literature and Writing.

For Paula Witthaus, her group’s grant application on behalf of CASA, which stands for Community Action Stops Abuse, was a way to practice her career goal of becoming a grant writer. The grant seeks funding from a foundation to begin a literacy program for the children living in CASA’s shelters.

“Some of the children don’t even own a book,” Witthaus said.

George Bikos and his project partner, Rodericka Riley, researched and recommended an e-portfolio builder for the Department of Languages, Literature and Writing by examining the needs of the students and creating a comparison chart of various programs.

“Students need a way to quantify what they are experiencing in a way that can be viewed by multiple people,” Bikos said.

Throughout the course students explored the ethics and process of how technical writing creates and represents the world. They developed rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, composing processes, and knowledge of convention and ethical concerns.

“I love watching the semester process unfold – from the organizations my students choose to work with to what they ultimately give and get from the projects,” McCracken said. “Challenging as the projects can be, the students generally enjoy and feel satisfied with the work they accomplish – both for the course and the outside organization.”

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