If you are planning to go into Co-op, looking for an online course while in Co-op, or simply need a break from science-related courses while still furthering your career, this is the right course for you. I believe it may be required for people in the bachelor of computer science (second degree) program, and thus would probably be a good fit for CPSC students. It is also arts credit, yet it is meant for students in science/other faculties, so no need to feel anxious about competing with Arts majors while getting those arts credits.
ENGL 301 is all about technical writing skills, predominantly business correspondence, something that is not prevalent in science courses but is essential in applying to any job. Thus, if you already have good technical writing skills, this course will be a breeze. If you don’t, you will learn essential skills like drafting a resume/CV or cover letter.
FORMAT OF THE COURSE
ENGL 301 is a fully online course focused on practicing and improving technical writing skills. The course format and due dates are laid out right away, and there are no exams.
When I took it (2020W), the course was divided into four 3-week sections:
- Introduction to business and technical writing, communication with instructors and classmates and building an online site. The focus of this section is business correspondence.
- Report proposal, peer-review, and resume-building. The resume is essential to creating an online networking strategy with a Linked-In profile being the key feature.
- Job application, report designing, and team feedback. The highlight is the job application skills, where one can apply to a job of choice, graduate school or an international volunteer opportunity and to continue designing the report with the help of team feedback
- Finalizing the report, networking strategy and web folio. At this stage, peer reviews allow for the final version of the blog, report, and all plans for social networking are completed.
Small projects may differ depending on the year/semester. In summary, the main projects in this course are designing a web folio and a final report on some specific aspect of your life (volunteering, work, etc.) that you think may be improved by collecting data via surveys and/or interviews of stakeholders. There were small assignments due every Tuesday and Thursday that could be completed quickly. If you like courses with many small assignments contributing to an overall grade, this course is for you.
GPA 🙂 OR 🙁
Although there is some busy work, many examples of the projects and small assignments are available by students posting early, or web folios provided from previous years. If you follow the instructions and textbook templates closely, you should be able to achieve A+, however with minimal work it is still an easy A. It may help to have a group of 4 friends, or simply make new friends (as I did), as you form groups to edit each other’s work.
ENGL 301 Grade Distribution (Credit: ubcgrades.com)
VERDICT? To take or not to take
If you are interested in improving your technical writing skills for that next job, preparing for Co-op, or even know technical writing and want a laid-back course where you can build your technical writing skills, this course is for you. If you are motivated by competition, the best final report will receive a scholarship. Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. I hope you enjoy the course!