Category: Courses

Course Recap – WRD 531: Digital Storytelling 

This past Winter Quarter, Dr. Lisa Dush taught MAWRD’s sixth iteration of WRD 531: Digital Storytelling. This course gives students the opportunity to craft short digital personal experience narratives (DPENs) and to learn about how such narratives are circulated for organizational and community-building purposes. Exploring the processes, norms, and ethics of digital storytelling, this course enables students to  better conceptualize and execute digital storytelling projects in both personal and professional contexts. I had the opportunity to take WRD 531 this past quarter, and below I share some of the main class components and takeaways articulated by Dr. Dush, MAWRD student

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Updated Course Spotlight – WRD 264: Language, Self, & Society

As a social practice that we engage in each and every day, language holds a great deal of power in how we understand and move about our world. It constructs how we live, function, and relate to other people. In the upcoming Autumn Quarter, Dr. Jason Schnieder’s course, WRD 264: Language, Self, and Society, delves into this dynamic relationship. Read on to learn more and hear about WRD 264 from Dr. Schneider’s perspective.  The topics of your class–language, self, and society–can encompass many different relationships. Is there a primary one you are focusing on? Not a primary one, but the

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Course Spotlight — WRD 523: Editing

As course registration is soon to open for Spring Quarter 2024, learn more about WRD 523 Editing taught by Dr. Tim Elliott. Here, Dr. Elliott reflects on WRD 523 and what it offers to students who enroll.  Course Goals and Learning Outcomes WRD 523 is a class that opens doors. Students will learn how to edit all different kinds of writing, from resumes and cover letters to documentation from a local partner organization. In class we’ll learn an array of concepts and strategies, like rhetorical grammar, technical writing principles, style guides, and more. But the lessons students will learn in

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Course Spotlight – WRD 285: Truth in Disguise: The Rhetoric of Satire

During the upcoming summer session, Professor Justin Staley will be teaching the online asynchronous course WRD 285-Truth in Disguise: The Rhetoric of Satire. The course will examine satire as a powerful tool for persuasion and change, or, in lieu of that, ridicule. For students planning to take the course, Professor Staley shares, “Likely, you will be entertained, disturbed, pleased, and annoyed. And while the matters we will read about are indeed serious, we will see that it’s not always most effective to take ourselves equally seriously.” Here’s an additional excerpt from course description:  “From Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain to

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Course Recap – WRD 309: Persuasion in the Age of TikTok

Last year, we chatted with Professor Margaret Poncin Reeves about her upcoming course WRD 309: Persuasion in the Age of TikTok. Now that the course has ended, we wanted to share a recap from students’ perspectives as well. Here two students, education major NIna Odishoo and WRD major Miranda Kincer, share their perspective on this fasicnating course.  Why did you decide to take this course? Nina: I decided to take this course to fill a requirement, but I did have the choice to pick a few WRD courses. This one in particular intrigued me due to its title, as I find

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Course Spotlight – WRD 327: Content Writing

In the WRD Department, Spring Quarter is well underway—meaning that course registration for next quarter has begun! WRD will be offering several new courses at the undergraduate level, including WRD 327: Content Writing taught by Professor Tim Elliott. Here, Professor Elliott discusses his plans for the new course, including how it came about, course projects, and major takeaways. To start on the same page, how do you define “content writing” for your students? In this context, content writing means writing about a particular or specialized subject matter area, and then making that specialized subject matter accessible and engaging. Good content

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