AnDrea's Research Blog

Call me Ishmael..... Well, tonight I finally decided to "pen" my blog.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Corporate U survey

Okay, ladies, I would like your opinion. I have done some preliminary research of online CU consultant websites to get an idea of what their writing courses are like. Here's my criteria:
In order to get a glimpse of what is actually being taught in the corporate university classroom, I conducted an examination of seven corporate university consulting firms. The areas of focus for my study included:
 Types of writing classes
 Length/ Number of said courses
 Course content
 Method of delivery
 Type of Provider (non-academic consultant, university/academic courses)

The criteria used to choose which business writing consultant program would be included in the study included:
 The firms must serve at least one major corporation (consisting of 500 or more employees)

 The firm must serve a variety of industries (industrial, retail, etc.)

 The firm must have a website that contains information about the writing courses offered.

MY QUESTIONS TO YOU
1. I used this just to narrow my search, but maybe I should use other criteria?
2. How should I present these results? In other words, when I show this information during our presentations, what will make the most sense to you? I am not mathematician, and since I opted out of my statistics class for my Master's, I have no idea how to present this -- shorthand-- in a way that makes sense. HELP!! Here's just a bit of what I've gathered so far --I think I've found some interesting things-- I'll include them here, but be warned: It is RAW!

Online Research of Seven CU consulting Firms that design writing curriculum.

-- 3 of the "firms" are actually university or community college departments that were created to handle this market.

--The rest (4) are independent consultants -- not affiliated with a college.

-- The industries served by the seven firms are accounting/business services/legal, banking/financial, computing/technology, education, energy/utilities, engineering/R&D/science, entertainment, hospitality, government, health care, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, publishing/communications, real estate, retail/wholesale, transportation.

--Types of courses
The type of writing course offered the most is the basic grammar skills course: All seven firms offered this course. Two of the academic firms offer between 7 and 10 courses such as:
 Advanced Grant Proposal Writing
 Business Writing Skills
 Business& Marketing Skills
 Fundamentals of Technical Writing
 Intro to Internet Writing Markets
 Mastering Writing Skills
 Sharpen Business Writing Skills AMA
 Newsletter Design
 Editing and Publishing
 International Business Communication

One of the non-academic firms offers 28 courses for employees, which focus on
 Basic Grammar for Business
 Basic Writing Skills Tutorial
 Review of Common ESL Problems
 Individualized Writing for Non-native Speakers of English
 Business Writing Skills
 Recording and Writing Meeting Minutes
 Basic Grammar and Writing Skills for Business
 Polishing and Proofreading Your Business Writing
 Comprehensive Understanding of English Usage
 Writing Effective Business Letters
 Writing Effective Sales Letters
 Writing Effective Workplace E-mail
 Writing Successful Business Proposals
 Editing Skills
 Business Research Report Writing Skills
 Technical Writing
 Writing Clear, Objective Audit reports
 Grant-Writing skills
 Proofreading Skills
 Public Relations and Copywriting Skills
 Writing Computer User Manuals and System Documentation
 Plain English Writing Skills
 Legal Proofreading Skills
 Legal Writing Skills
 Writing Skills for Technical Support Center Representatives
 Individualized Writing Course
 Writing Coaching for Executives and Managers

What ever shall I do?

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Writing about Writing: My Lit Review Woes

I hated my first lit review for this project. It was disjointed. It was awful. I can't stand to read it without skipping to the end. It seemed I couldn't rein in the herd of CU research possibilities. they were everywhere: stampeding all about, crapping on my shoes, keeping me up all night with that infernal mooing...okay, maybe it wasn't that bad. Still, the issue of education, learning, knowledge, and who does it BETTER becomes quite complex when it comes to the issue of learning on the job. In many ways, the university has turned its face to the corporate sun and seems to gain its strength from it. Yet, the university complains of the burns it receives from getting too close to the corporate mindset. Conversely, the company store expects the best of the "stock" that universities can produce, but they insist upon development programs that devalue the characteristics which makes that stock valuable. At the time of my first attempt at a review, I was afraid to approach this issue -- not because of the controversy (I live for controversy) but because I didn't know how or if I should reduce this to a research question for my project.

Now, I know it wouldn't make any sense to do the project unless this question is included.

So, my second try at a lit review began, and I attempted this question. So far, it seems okay. You let me know what you think about it.