Exploring Electronic Landscapes: Technical Communication, Online Learning, and Instructor Preparedness

Abstract

Instead of focusing on technologies of online delivery, specific course design, or reporting on the successes or lessons learned of an online or distance education course, in this essay I focus on the readiness of technical communication teachers for teaching in online settings. Using ideas gleaned from cultural geography, specifically the concept of reading and interpreting landscapes, I develop a framework for instructors to determine their willingness, readiness, and preparedness to teach online. The final section of this essay provides an example of using this framework based on my explorations into my readiness to teach online. I find that self-selection for online instruction is a critical step in developing powerful instructional settings and allows technical communication teachers to cross or remove existing boundaries within their own pedagogical practices.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to say thank you to the TCQ reviewers and the editors of this special issue for their thoughtful critiques and suggestions that helped shape this article, and a very special thank you to Beth Hewett for her generosity, patience, and expert editorial guidance. I also want to thank Tink Moore, who made me a geographer.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lisa Meloncon

Lisa Meloncon is an assistant professor of English at the University of Cincinnati, where she teachers courses in technical and professional communication. Her research interests combine rhetoric, science, and technologies. She is currently working on a book about early modern medicine and rhetoric.