ENG 308: The Undertaking

TECHNICAL WRITING… WHAT WAS IT?
I came into this class expecting a writing course, and instead I got a business course. Understandable, since it is about the practical application of writing skills in business, but definitely skewed more towards the business end of things than I would have liked. Maybe for some students, this would have been a turn for the better–those in need of a writing course, but who aren't comfortable with writing a lot of long or creative works, they might find some use out of it. Or, perhaps, business majors in general (though, if you are a business major, I disrespectfully ask that you leave; I don't want capitalists reading my work). However, as someone who's here to get a degree in writing, I found that very little in this course directly addressed my writing skills, and I likely wouldn't have seen it through to the extent that I did had it not been worth a ton of important credits for my major and certification.
Indeed, technical writing was less about writing and more about general business skills. It tests one's ability to make short-term plans, to manage one's time, and to commit to decisions because dammit someone's gotta start working on something or we'll just sit here spinning our wheels forever. Probably quite reflective of the experience of being in a real office, now that I think about it. As a whole, it kind of feels like those times when you're in a group making plans, and everyone's waffling about "oh, I'm free sometime next week," and you have to put your foot down and just throw out a concrete time that people can actually confirm or reject, except that one moment is extended over the course of an entire semester. I won't say if that's good or bad; if you're the sort of person who decides on the time so no one else has to, you'll certainly flourish here. However, if you're the one who does it begrudgingly after way too much time has gone by, and you hate being put on the spot for those sorts of things, you will begrudge every second you're here.
PROS AND CONS?
There were times when the course was solid enough, and unsurprisingly for me those times were when it most closely resembled a more traditional class. I had fun analyzing scholarly papers during the Instructions unit, and I find the way that we learned about graphic design by studying existing graphics during the Infographics unit was engaging and effective. Over the course of the whole class, there were always a lot of examples of professional work that we were meant to be sort of imitating in our projects, and that kind of imitation is incredibly practical for learning what the process of technical writing will look like in a real, career-oriented setting.
However, that practicality and groundedness was also one of the biggest struggles of the class. With it came all of the troubles of actually working in an office: the swing-and-miss process of trying to get in touch with people, the faux-happy corporate language, the brainstorming, the collaboration… it's a lot. It's a great way to confirm for someone whether they truly want to work in a corporate setting; for me, it confirmed that I absolutely didn't.
To elaborate, I'll never be the sort of person who puts "works well with others" on my resume. At times, my independence is stubborn and problematic–this course certainly being one of those times–but the simple fact is that I get so exhausted when I need to rely on others' work in order to do my own. Not only that, but I get terrified when others rely on me for their work. The whole corporate environment of collaboration and teamwork and touching base… it's like a torture chamber for me. I'll be quite content living my life in a cabin somewhere far away from others, plugging away at my art, and only checking my email when I talk with my publishers.
FOR THOSE WHO COME
I can offer some advice. For one thing, get an older edition or a secondhand version or an inexplicably free PDF of the textbook. Weekly readings are helpful, but not strictly necessary, and you'll never be asked about the particulars; this isn't a test kind of class. Textbook content is more like support for if you're having trouble understanding what's going on in the weekly example stuff's nitty gritty.
Also, you will be asked on occasion during this class whether you want to watch a TED Talk. You will be tempted. You've looked at TED Talks before for other classes. They're easier than reading dry articles about instruction law. That is the devil talking to you. Watching TED Talks is always miserable, and this class will not make them any better. Resist the urge, reject the Talk. They'll only ever make you feel condescended to, and if you watch too many, I fear you'll start using that strange start-stop speech pattern that always crops up in those things.
And my greatest warning is this: the class is about 40% group project. A single, long group project. You will have only a small amount of control over whom you end up with, and you won't know how good any of them are at working, because it's an online class and you haven't spoken to any of them. If you end up in a group that just doesn't jive with you, or a group whose schedule doesn't line up with yours, you'll be stuck with it for half the semester. So, through the earlier weeks, study your classmates closely so that you can have a better idea of who you want to work with. Make contact with them. If you can, put together a group ahead of time. This will help you immensely.
Good luck. And business majors, if you're still reading this, do me a favor and send some money to a humanities major. We need it.