Instructor Welcome

image

Welcome to the LaunchPad for Practical Strategies for Technical Communication, Second Edition by Mike Markel

This course space includes pre-built units corresponding to the book chapters that you can customize or assign out-of-the-box. Each unit includes the complete chapter text in an interactive e-book, as well as a collection of assignments and related resources. After the e-book pages in each unit, you and your students will find resources including the following:

  • Tech Tips that give students step-by-step, illustrated instructions for using basic software tools
  • Document Analysis Activities that prompt students to analyze what is and isn't working in real-world technical documents
  • Exercises that offer additional opportunities for application of the material in each chapter, some of which have been designed for groups
  • Cases that place students in real-world writing scenarios built around common workplace documents. We recommend that you use LaunchPad's Dropbox feature to collect student responses to the case assignments. This feature allows students to upload files in any format up to 25 megabytes in size. For instructions on adding the Dropbox to a Unit, go here.
  • LearningCurve, a game-like adaptive quizzing program that lets students review content covered in class and identify topics they need to further study. Based on Technical Communication, Eleventh Edition, these activities also allow students to work with topics addressed briefly in Practical Strategies, such as organizational patterns, in greater depth. The following LearningCurve activities are included in the LaunchPad units:
    • Understanding the Technical Communication Environment (covering Part 1: Chs. 1-3)
    • Analyzing Audience and Purpose (covering Ch. 4)
    • Researching Your Subject (covering Ch. 5)
    • Organizing and Emphasizing Information (covering Ch. 6)
    • Writing Correct and Effective Sentences (covering Ch. 6)

Following the chapter units in LaunchPad, you'll find two additional units, each based on full-length Bedford/St. Martin's titles:

  • Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication, Second Edition by Roger Munger offers seven detailed case scenarios built around 50+ documents.
  • Team Writing: A Guide to Working in Groups by Joanna Wolfe offers additional instruction on collaborative writing and exercises built around videos showing real working teams in action.

To access more materials associated with each unit, select "Browse Resources for this Unit," located at the top of each unit below the chapter title. Students will see this material only if you add it to the unit, and you have full control over which materials you wish to add – for example, a chapter might be accompanied by five additional cases, and you choose to add two of them to the unit. Below is a list of activities and resources you'll find under "Browse Resources for this Unit":

  • Additional LearningCurve activities on the following topics:
    • Persuasion in technical communication
    • Grammar and mechanics, including common trouble spots for multilingual writers
    • Working with MLA and APA sources
    • Critical reading
    • Topic Sentences and supporting details
    • Topics and main ideas
  • Multimodal Document Analysis Activities that introduce students to the latest forms of technical communication, such as video instructions and a proposal delivered as a Prezi. The documents are accompanied by the same analysis prompts included with the Document Analysis activities in the unit.
  • Tutorials that address source documentation and digital composition skills such as audio and photo editing
  • Downloadable versions of forms discussed in the text, such as an audience profile sheet
  • Additional cases
  • Additional exercises

Teaching resources are located under "Browse Resources for this Unit": These include:

  • The pertinent chapter from the Instructor's Research Manual, offering a summary, chapter goals; a teaching guide; and suggestions for responding to Document Analysis activities, exercises, and cases
  • Teaching Topics from the Instructor's Resource Manual on subjects such as addressing plagiarism and incorporating service learning into your course
  • Lecture slides
  • Suggested responses to the additional cases and exercises

You can also explore student and instructor materials outside of each unit by selecting "Resources" from the menu on the left of your screen. You can then browse by chapter, or by content type, to get a comprehensive overview of relevant resources.

  • In the Questions subcategory, you will find test bank questions for each chapter. Multiple-choice and true/false questions are autoscored. Short-answer questions will need to be manually graded.