MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2018 Activities by Sponsor - Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication

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Communicating Science to the Public

Suzanne Lane, Director, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication

Add to Calendar Jan/18 Thu 01:00PM-03:00PM E17-136

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/18
Limited to 30 participants

This workshop, developed by the Writing, Rhetoric, and Communication Program (WRAP), will provide vivid lessons and hands-on practice in communicating scientific research to a general audience. An in-depth explanation of strategies for making complex information accessible and memorable, without compromising accuracy, will be followed by exercises for developing clear and vivid explanations of data and concepts.  Space is limited to 30. 

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: WRAP, E18-228a, 617-253-3039, wrap@mit.edu


Digital Rhetoric and Mobile Learning

Robert N. Calton, Lecturer - Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/22
Limited to 20 participants
Attendance: Participants encouraged to attend all sessions but welcome at individual

If you have ever wondered how to effectively teach and learn with smartphones and tablets, this may be the program for you! This three-day seminar will focus on strategies to critically explore mobile applications through a rhetorical lens, as well as developing learner-centered applications for mobile devices. Participants will receive a general introduction to what mobile learning is (and is not!), an overview of basic digital rhetoric and learning theories, how to craft and deliver effective value propositions to explore and explain your project’s essential point of need, and of course, how to design a usable mobile learning experience and what to do after its release. By the end of the seminar, each participant will have produced a visual prototype of their mobile learning application, situated it in a “storyboard,” pitched it to their peers, and designed a personalized assessment method by which the application can be tested and refined. They will also leave with an increased awareness about how people both use and are used by mobile devices in our connected, digital age. All program materials are provided! Join us to discover ways in which we can bring our smartphones out of our pockets and into our classrooms and learning programs in meaningful ways.

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: Robert Calton, rcalton@mit.edu


M-learning and the value proposition

Add to Calendar Jan/22 Mon 02:00PM-04:00PM 8-205

Orients participants to basic concepts of mobile learning, digital learning theories, and works through Carlson and Wilmont's "Value Proposition" model to explore both situation and solution for mobile learning. At the end of this session, participants will have a detailed idea of the application they want to develop, what essential point of need it fills, and how to pitch it to others.


User-focused design and compliance

Add to Calendar Jan/23 Tue 02:00PM-04:00PM 8-205

The second of three courses explicates contemporary design and engagement principles, as well as weighs the value of developing native versus mobile web apps. Compliance strategies, such as gamification and integrating social media, are explored for their usefulness and appropriateness. At the end of this session, students will have a framework for which they can begin to design their mobile learning application.


Prototyping, testing, assessment

Add to Calendar Jan/24 Wed 02:00PM-04:00PM 8-205

Participants produce a visual prototype (drawn) of their mobile learning application ("looks like" model) and situate that in a storyboard to simulate a user experience ("works like" model). We'll discuss strategies in which the application can be piloted, explore types of user testing and multi-level assessment options, and discuss what those options can show us about refining your application's experience and design.


Presenting with Skill and Confidence

Juergen Schoenstein, Lecturer: Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication, Anna Kohler, Senior Lecturer in Music and Theater Arts at MIT

Add to Calendar Jan/17 Wed 09:30AM-12:30PM 2-147
Add to Calendar Jan/18 Thu 09:30AM-12:30PM 1-273 and 1-277
Add to Calendar Jan/18 Thu 02:00PM-04:00PM 4-364

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/16
Limited to 18 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

As engineers and academics, we love to talk about our work – unless it is in front of an audience. For many, public speaking is one of the biggest fears they have to face; even experienced presenters often agonize over the prospect of facing an audience. This workshop will address not only the tasks of crafting a talk and designing the slides, but also how to become confident and comfortable as a speaker. This workshop is intended for graduate students and faculty members who want to improve their oral presentation skills, but undergraduates are welcome, too.

The first part will be a half-day workshop in crafting an audience-specific narrative, and designing professional slides; the next morning, we will do a “clinic” where participants get an opportunity to give a 5 to 10-minute presentation (about their thesis, current research, or any other topic they choose) to a friendly audience of peers, get feedback and practice how to handle the Q and A. In the afternoon, things will become more physical: Anna Kohler, Senior Lecturer for Theater at MIT, will lead a workshop on “Speaking with confidence”. In this workshop, you will do exercises that will enable you to find and fill both the space within you and the space immediately around you, so that you can confidently be yourself in front of a large audience. This workshop is not about oral performance and theatrical speech, but about physical presence and comfort on stage - wear loose clothing conducive for physical movement.

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: Juergen Schoenstein, juergen@mit.edu


Reasoning and Argumentation

Suzanne Lane, Director, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication

Add to Calendar Jan/23 Tue 01:00PM-03:30PM E17-136

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/23
Limited to 30 participants

The free exchange of ideas is central to democracy and to academic work.  Yet often this exchange can be fraught with misunderstanding, anxiety about how our ideas or positions will be received, and unnecessary conflict.  This workshop will teach participants central concepts of rhetoric and argumentation that can aid in generating useful debate that fosters open dialogue towards understanding and problem solving.  Open to the entire MIT community, but space is limited to 30. 

 

For more information, or to reserve a space, pleace contact the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication program (WRAP)

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: WRAP, E18-228a, 617-253-3039, wrap@mit.edu


Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Understanding How to Reason with Sources

Suzanne Lane, Director, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication

Add to Calendar Jan/25 Thu 01:00PM-03:00PM E17-136

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/24
Limited to 30 participants

Whenever we do research—whether in the library, the lab, or the field, or just reading the assigned texts for a class—we hope to develop new ideas: to form and test hypotheses, develop new and better methods, produce richer evidence, and refine existing theories.  Our research is often collaborative, and always builds on work by previous researchers and writers.  But how do we develop new ideas from these sources?  How do we document where others’ ideas contribute to our thinking, and where our ideas build on theories and evidence that’s already published?  And why do the practices of incorporating and citing sources vary so much from one discipline or journal to another?  This workshop will help you learn how to write with sources—published, online, or live—in ways that will help both you and your readers understand how your ideas build on, and move beyond, those of your sources.

Space is limited to 30.

For more information, and to reserve a space, please contact the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication program (WRAP)

 

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: WRAP, E18-228a, 617-253-3039, wrap@mit.edu


The Matter of Facts

Karen Boiko

Add to Calendar Jan/24 Wed 10:00AM-12:00PM 1-242

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/23
Limited to 30 participants

In this troubling time of truthiness, alternative facts and “fake news,” how might we as instructors steer the conversation in a direction more congruent with our training and values? Do facts look the same in Biology and History? In Electrical Engineering, Economics and Women’s Studies? How do we, as instructors value facts? How do we, or might we, make this valuing explicit in our teaching? Do we talk about truth or limit ourselves to “data,” as so many students seem to want to do?

Participants in this workshop will start by considering Jill Lepore’s New Yorker essay “After the Fact,” which historicizes the concept of the fact, and relates it to the concepts of truth and data. Discussion will then move into the questions of how we recognize facts in our disciplines, and what their value is. We will end by considering how we might engage students more explicitly on this topic as well as identifying ways we already do so.

This workshop is intended for faculty, instructors, and TAs in all disciplines.

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: Karen Boiko, boiko@mit.edu


Thesis Boot Camp: Exercises and Strategies for Writing a Major Technical Report

Amy Carleton, Lecturer: Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication, Jane Kokernak, Lecturer: Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication

Add to Calendar Jan/31 Wed 10:00AM-01:00PM 4-231
Add to Calendar Feb/01 Thu 10:00AM-01:00PM 4-231

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 60 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

Embarking on any research-based writing project, like the undergraduate thesis or a technical report, can often seem daunting. How does one choose a suitable topic or focus? What is an approach for conducting and cataloguing a literature search? What are strategies for outlining and drafting your final document? What are the qualities of effective technical prose?

This IAP workshop will offer students a strategic and intense opportunity to prepare for their upcoming thesis or other large writing project by

 - conducting genre analysis of sample theses and reports,
 - formulating a viable research question,
 - generating a preliminary research bibliography,
 - examining the features of effective prose, and
 - designing a realistic timeline keyed to the chief writing tasks.

Day one will focus on the components of thesis and report writing, the research question, and background research with help from an MIT research Librarian.  On day two, we will isolate features of technical prose and their application to your writing, design a project timeline and get quick feedback, and address questions specific to your project.  Participants are asked to bring laptops and any project guidelines to the meetings. Note: while the emphasis is on undergraduate research in MechE, anyone is welcome to attend.

Attendance capped at 60.

To register, fill out the Google form here: http://bit.ly/2ijWgXK

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Mechanical Engineering, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: Amy Carleton, amymarie@mit.edu


Workshop on Academic Argument

Nora Jackson, Karen Pepper, Janis Melvold, Jo-Ann Graziano

Add to Calendar Feb/01 Thu 03:00PM-05:00PM 4-253

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Limited to 18 participants

In one 2-hour workshop addressed to the MIT community (faculty, TAs and grad students especially welcome) we propose to explore written argument across several academic disciplines. As instructors in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication (WRAP), we will present a comparison of written argument in various disciplines. We will consider structure, claims, evidence, and reasoning with an eye toward understanding what we are (or should be) trying to convey to students, designing assignments to help students acquire skill in argumentation, and structuring our teaching over the four undergraduate years to ensure that there is reinforcement and development without needless repetition.

We invite you to bring ideas for an assignment, an assignment you have used in the past, or notes on challenges you face for our discussion of teaching the foundational rhetorical skill of written argument.

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: Nora Jackson, norajack@mit.edu


Writing Successful Proposals

Andreas Karatsolis, Assoc. Director, Writing, Rhetoric, & Prof. Communication

Add to Calendar Jan/09 Tue 12:00PM-02:30PM E17-136
Add to Calendar Jan/11 Thu 12:00PM-02:30PM E17-136

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/09
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Repeating event, participants welcome at any session

Following last year’s successful IAP offering, WRAP is extending the workshop on Writing Successful Proposals to two days (5 hours in total). At the heart of this workshop is a conceptual framework for proposal writing, centered around the baseline logic of the proposal as a genre, and the associated rhetorical moves within proposal sections. As an extension to this framework, participants will be presented with a model to effectively develop methodology sections, project timelines and budgets. In the second session of the workshop, participants will work on applying the baseline logic model into their own project ideas, and learn how to integrate visuals and generate discourse for the different sections. Finally, we will discuss how to create a persuasive line of argument through the use of themes that the potential sponsors will feel compelled to consider for funding.

The workshop is targeted towards advanced undergraduate students engaged in original research, graduate students and faculty or staff in the process of submitting proposals for funding.

Space is limited to 30 participants.

For more information, and to reserve a space in the workshop, email the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication (WRAP). 

 

Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication
Contact: WRAP, E18-228a, 617-253-3039, wrap@mit.edu