Engineering students often have difficulty learning how to write laboratory reports in their field. To assist students with this learning process and teach them writing strategies that will prove helpful in the workplace, a writing center was established in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at the University of South Carolina. There, consultants trained in technical writing work closely with ECE faculty members and teaching assistants to create a supportive network for students as they draft reports, including discussions during recitation periods, team consultations, and individual consultations. This paper presents a theoretical framework for the writing center program, as well as specific writing strategies that have proven helpful. Assessment methods and feedback from faculty and students about the success of the program are presented as well.

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Distributed learning theory is valuable for teachers of online business communication courses because it 1) highlights complexities of software tools, not only the online course interface, but also tools used to produce Websites, brochures, CDs, and other multi-media elements ; 2) provides a way to address online communication dynamics, such as online chats and discussions, that students will practice in the workplace ; and 3) allows teachers to examine how their previous experiences teaching business communication in more " traditional " classrooms affect teaching online. Highlighting these areas allows business communication teachers to focus on the critical use of technology in online formats that entail relatively new teaching media. The critical application of technology use can be seen in areas like tool evaluation and use, power and divisions of labor, and community participation.

Conflicts often arise in online professional communication class discussions as students discuss sensitive ethical issues relating to the workplace. When conflicts arise in an online class, the activity system of the class has to be kept in balance for the course to continue functioning effectively. Activity theory and distributed learning theory are useful for studying this process of conflict resolution and online communication. Several strategies can be used to facilitate conflict resolution in online courses, based on these theories: complimenting, generalizing, and agreeing. These normalizing strategies can improve conflict resolution in online professional communication courses as well as in various online communication contexts.ENCOUNTERING CONFLICTS in a classroom setting, students can take advantage of their ability to see the discussion participants, hear their tone of voice, and sense the atmosphere within the room to help resolve the conflict. If the students themselves cannot handle the situation, the instructor may enter the conversation and attempt to resolve the conflict through mediation. When communicating online, however, writers can have difficulty managing conflict because these sensory features are absent.In addition, when conflicts arise in an online class, the activity system of the class has to be kept in balance for the course to continue functioning. That activity system should ensure order: The discussions involve a certain pattern of turn taking among the students and the instructor, assignments are released and discussed based on a hyperlinked calendar, and peer interaction takes place using particular codes of conduct, for example. Conflicts can occur, however, that throw the discussion off balance. This article discusses strategies for rebalancing, that is, for normalizing the discourse when tensions arise,

Theoretical foundations in website design courses can facilitate students learning the genres of Internet communication. Genre theory and activity theory provide opportunities for emphasizing the social context of websites in ways that emphasize for students the identity-laden nature of sites that can often appear to be anonymous and addressed to multiple audiences. After proposing ways that these theories can be integrated into website design courses, the article focuses on two students' website portfolios and ways they utilize theories discussed in class to produce websites in two different fields.