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The Writing-Intensive Co-op (WIC), offered jointly by the Engineering Communications Program and the Co-operative Education Program, appears to be unique among engineering co-op programs. When carried out successfully, the WIC fulfills the college’s technical-writing requirement. The WIC is an excellent opportunity to combine academics and professional work. Each semester, WIC students say that feedback from their supervisors and other colleagues helps make their technical documents precise, understandable, and well organized. They also say that their writing helps them understand their technical work. Supervisors enjoy seeing the students’ writing improve, and documents written during the WIC are useful to the organization. Any student interested in undertaking a WIC should contact the WIC co-ordinator in the first two weeks at work. The co-ordinator then contacts the workplace supervisor to see whether the student’s work responsibilities are suited to a WIC. If they are, a series of documents is planned by the supervisor and student, who submits a WIC proposal for review. At the end of the Co-op term, each WIC student compiles a portfolio of his/her documents and sends it to the WIC co-ordinator. If the documents meet WIC standards, the WIC co-ordinator notifies the student and the Office of the Engineering Registrar that the student has fulfilled the college’s technical-writing requirement. Detailed information about the Writing-Intensive Co-op is available from the WIC co-ordinator. It includes criteria for judging whether a WIC is right for a given work site, the current semester’s schedule of reports that the student writes for the co-ordinator, types of documents appropriate for the WIC, criteria for the documents, and more. If you would like any of this information, call or write Penny J. Beebe, Senior Lecturer |
