I’m hoping to get advice on three points, all intersecting with EE and engineering writing and pedagogy.

First, the EE TAs are going to be trained next year (by me), and while I have a good idea of my plans, I’d like some input. What did you wish you knew when you started teaching? Now that some of you are faculty, you might have an even more urgent message about that, but anyone who was a struggling, hard-working, responsible TA probably wishes they’d been given a few ideas to work with. What are they??

Second, the School of Engineering has asked Writing Programs to teach first-year composition courses directed specifically at students who have entered as engineering majors. The one and only section (so far) of English 3E is this Fall, and we have some constraints on what we achieve in there, but I’d be interested to hear what you’d include in that class. The two new areas to be emphasized, in addition to what we already teach about college composition, are “the visual display of information” and “exposition/description” (contrast that with “argument” and you might get a sense of what it means and why it’s useful for engineers). I don’t want to focus just on engineering-related topics (engineering majors get enough engineering classes!), but I want to make sure that the course offers a helpful bridge between other disciplines, writing, and engineering. Any thoughts?

And third, I need to write on this website more often, so I’d be interested in hearing what topics you have questions about (or what stories or ideas you’d be interested in sharing here!). I will try to write a few posts in advance, so that there will be a more regular posting during the busy Fall quarter.

Thanks, in advance, for your help.