Jessica Jorgenson Borchert

Course

English 2140: Introduction to Technical Communication 

Resource

• Technical and Professional Communication, 2nd Edition (currently in production)

Case Study

I care about the costs students incur for a degree, and specifically because I teach support courses for different majors, I want to keep costs for students down in any way I can. Using OERs is one way I can keep that cost down, even if in a small way. In Writing Studies, we have many fantastic OERs available, such as Writing Spaces and Bad Ideas about Writing, so it isn’t necessary to create your own OER. In fact, I have used both those OERs in previous classes I have taught and Bad Ideas about Writing is often a favorite with students because the chapters are not lengthy and each chapter takes on a common myth about writing that many students are familiar with. For my Technical Writing courses, I chose to create mine after receiving an OER grant at a previous institution and I’m happy to share that work with Iowa State students. Finally, I am working to revise my OER for the class(es) I teach here at Iowa State to update it not only for the classes, but also for how Generative AI is continuing to change Technical Communication.