We evaluate the use of a Virtual Exchange (VE) writing task, Stimulus Writing, which we assigned to groups of UK and Finnish business students. There were two learner cohorts in the study: one in the UK (mainly Chinese students), the other in Finland (mainly Finns). The Finnish students wrote authentic case studies about Nordic businesses, while…

To succeed as tomorrow's workers in the knowledge society of the new century--a world characterized by ceaseless change, boundless knowledge and endless doubt, today's business writing students must develop the skills and traits needed to become creative problem-solvers, flexible team-players and risk-taking life-time learners (Bereiter, 2002a).…

A pretest/posttest assignment involving the writing of a business letter was given to 123 business communication students. Findings indicate that students gain equal efficiency in the understanding of and skill in the application of business writing principles by writing from draft through final copy as they do when editing and revising prewritten…

Suggests having students write a series of business magazine article summaries as part of a journal assignment. (MS)

Describes five consulting activities developed over several years association with a business firm in order to show that intensive work for one company can be an interesting option for consultants who want to address a firm's many communication problems and who want to see long-term results. (FL)

The author uses a hypothetical contest situation to generate student interest in collecting, evaluating, and organizing information. (RL)

Discusses a degree requirement of a Bachelor of Management Studies program at a New Zealand University: the writing of an investigative report for a company or government department. (AEA)

Describes a teaching technique designed to help students understand how and why technical writing works. Students study journal articles by answering lists of questions focusing on unity, coherency, definitions, illustrations, and documentation, then apply principles they learned through the exercise to preparing an informative report. (SKC)

Argues for the use of case studies in writing instruction and presents a sample case study designed for either technical writing or business communication courses. (AEA)

Presents a method for teaching report writing that first establishes the order followed when writing a good business report and then presents, in reverse order, the steps of gathering information, interpreting information, and organizing information. (SRT)

Outlines a unit on teaching business communication students the complexities of writing in-house memoranda. (AEA)

Offers a writing assignment in which students analyze the operations of a failing small business and make written recommendations on improving prospects. (AEA)

Suggests general principles for developing assignments where students prepare portfolios that reveal their overall communication skills in addition to the usual job search tools. Emphasizes that students should concentrate on including works in the portfolio with the criteria of quality, variety, professionalism, and maturity in mind. (SKC)

A professional writing course can be both technical and humanistic by incorporating into the course a formal report assignment in which students pick a subject in the humanities about which they wish to know more. Once the students decide on topics to research, they develop a scenario in which they define a person or group who needs the…

Describes a business communications class assignment to complete an annotated bibliography on high technology communication and its objectives. Includes questions discussed by the class on the due date of the assignment. (HTH)