Report assignments and collaborative assignments can both be fraught with risk. Report projects, if not well planned, can be too simple or too complex and/or can leave students wondering what they are supposed to have learned--all while creating a major grading burden for the instructor. Poorly planned group projects can cause similar…

The seven Favorite Assignments featured in this article were originally presented at the 2010 ABC Annual Convention, Chicago, Illinois. The reader can consider a variety of learning objectives from team building to persuasion, application of electronic media to face-to-face communication, and much more. Some Favorite Assignments take a full…

Considers how many students walk into the class with an array of technical communicating perspectives that open the door for practical experiences. Believes that a technical communicator employs the ethnographic process for the purpose of creating technical documents. Presents an ethnographic framed assignment that requires a collaboratively…