What Is MyTechCommLab?

Your technical communication destination—where comprehensive resources for technical communicators are only a click away!

MyTechCommLab offers the best multimedia resources for technical communication in one, easy-to-use place. Students will find more than 100 interactive model documents and 48 case studies. There are also extensive guidelines, tutorials, and exercises for Document Design, Writing, and Research, and a large bank of diagnostics and practice for Grammar review.

Model documents in MyTechCommLab

• Interactive model documents (100+)cover the most commonly used formats, including memos, reports, proposals, definitions and descriptions, and letters. Each documentincludes rollover annotations highlighting purpose, audience, design, and other critical topics.
• Quizzes for model documents let students practice what they have learned.

Case studies in MyTechCommLab

• Case Studies (35+) cover the entire range of technical communication documents, including emails, formal reports, and presentations. Each provides the case background, questions for consideration, and activities that students can complete and submit to their instructors.
• Four case studies cover document design and graphics.
• Three case studies cover usability.
• Seven case studies provide realistic scenarios in which the stages of the writing process are put into real-world focus.  

Document design resources in MyTechCommLab

• A Visual Rhetoric Tutorial leads students step-by-step through the process of designing an effective document—developing basic document architecture, choosing colors and typefaces, using images, and putting it all together to create a usable document.
• A Web Design Tutorial provides basic instruction for novices on building a Web page and creating hyperlinks.

Writing resources in MyTechCommLab

• Writing Process Tutorials lead students through each stage of the writing process—from prewriting to final formatting.
• A Writing Formal Reports Tutorial offersstep-by-step guidance for creating one of the most common document types in technical communication and for working with sources.
• Writing Activities provide hundreds of exercises for students to apply what they have learned.

Grammar resources in MyTechCommLab

• Diagnostic tests allow instructors and students to identify individual weaknesses and create study plans.
• Practice exercises and activities (3,000+) cover common sentence grammar errors as well as other issues related to style, usage, punctuation, and mechanics. Activities include sentence and paragraph editing exercises, and grammar exercises provide remedial feedback to help students learn as they practice.

Research process resources in MyTechCommLab

• Unlimited use of EBSCOgives students instant access to thousands of academic journals and periodicals from any computer with an Internet connection.
• Citation style guides outline rules and examples to follow for APA, CMS, and MLA styles.
• Avoiding Plagiarism Tutorials are self-paced and provide self-scoring tests, exercises, and tutorials on how to recognize and avoid plagiarism.

Composing space / ePortfolios

MyTechCommLab empowers student writers and facilitates writing instruction by uniquely integrating a composing space and ePortfolio with proven resources and tools. In this revolutionary application, students receive feedback within the context of their own writing—encouraging critical thinking and revision while honing their skills based on individual needs. Administrative features developed specifically for writing instruction bring instructors closer to their student writers, make managing assignments and evaluating papers more efficient, and save instructors time.

In the easy-to-use composing space, which looks and functions like the most popular word processing programs, resources are available at students' fingertips as they research, draft, and revise; students can get the help they need when they need it, without ever leaving their writing environment. They can also upload documents that are in other file types. All work in the course can be saved in MyTechCommLab, so instructors are able to access and manage their students' writing in one place.

In this same space, students can view instructor, peer, and tutor comments on their work, pulling together all of the feedback they'll need to produce better writing. The intuitive commenting functionality of MyTechCommLab will save instructors significant time by allowing them to insert and record favorite comments and common errors. It also allows instructors to create personalized study plans for students by linking to topics in the Resource library from the student's own writing.

With only a few clicks, the Portfolio feature allows students to create e-portfolios of their work that they can easily share with their instructor, other evaluators, and peers. Students can include multimodal compositions in their portfolios, export them as .html or PDF files, or continue adding to them throughout their college career and beyond.

The Assignments section of MyTechCommLab enables instructors to easily create and deliver assignments online and helps keep students on track by listing due dates and assignment details in one place. Another feature to keep everyone on track is the flexible Gradebook. Capturing student grades from self-grading aspects of the site and grades given to writing assignments by the instructor, the Gradebook allows instructors to easily assess student and class progress.

Students can use MyTechCommLab on their own, benefiting from the composing space and its integrated resources, tools, and services with no involvement from the instructor. Instructors can integrate MyTechCommLab into their traditional or online courses to whatever degree they'd like—from simply using exercises in the Resource section for homework or extra help to delivering their entire course online. An eminently flexible application, MyTechCommLab can be used in whatever way an instructor finds useful for their course and teaching style.

 

MyTechCommLab can be packaged with ANY Pearson technical communication text. In addition, book-specific courses with eTexts are available. See Books Available.

MyTechCommLab is also available in other Learning Management Systems such as Angel™, Blackboard/WebCT, eCollege, Moodle™ and Sakai through Pearson Learning Solutions. Contact your Pearson representative for more information. Back to top