English 301 Technical Writing is a course offered at UBC in online format for the Winter semester of 2015. It is designed to allow students to learn more about written and online communication in the business and professional world. It this course, we will be learning about and gaining hands on experience in writing many different kinds of professional documents including abstracts, proposals, applications, reports, correspondence, and online communications.

By the end of this course, I expect to know much more about online communications, including emails, LinkedIn, Webfolios, and blogs (which I have learned about already by creating this post!) In addition to learning more about how to use these methods of communication in everyday life, I expect to learn about how to use them in a professional or business setting. With the technology of communication growing with each new Apple or Microsoft product, Facebook app, or social media platform, I think it is becoming increasingly important to learn how to integrate these platforms into business communications, while managing to remain professional.

I think this course will also be very informative about basic elements of business writing that many recent university graduates leave school never learning. When starting a new job after university, there are many people who have no idea how to write a memo, proposal, report, or abstract, and I hope that having some knowledge about these will give me a slight advantage in whatever I pursue after I leave UBC.

In addition to online communication, I expect to review the basics of correspondence, and learn the general rules one should follow when sending a formal email or letter. This way, I can be sure that I always present myself professionally, which is so important in the great big world scary world after university.