The Profcomm Center
The Profcomm Center is
a “virtual” organization made up of students and instructors from
the University of Arizona's Business and Technical Writing courses and has
been developed as a model for analysis projects of professional communication
technologies and practices. The organization is "virtual," meaning
that it exists as resources and sites of online collaboration and as an online
clearinghouse of analytical projects conducted by students in business and
technical writing. Students’ work in Profcomm courses will become part
of the organization as a resource for other students and organizations in
the community.
Some Profcomm courses are structured as scenario-based courses. In these courses, students are considered interns of The Profcomm Center. The Profcomm Center does not place students in organizations to conduct product-based projects, although students may collaborate with partnership organizations to conduct their projects. The students are accountable first and foremost to The Profcomm Center and their projects are primarily intended to be critical analyses of issues in professional communication. Those analyses are shared with community partners as analytical resources.
As interns with The Profcomm Center, students gain proficiency in professional writing by turning in documents such as memos, letters, and reports according to an organizational standard. Students also write a project proposal and conduct a Center project determined by instructors and students from individual courses. At the end of the semester, the students create an “application portfolio” based on their experience as interns for The Profcomm Center.
The Profcomm Center organization
scenario allows students to consider their course activities in terms of direct
experience in professional communication. Students conduct themselves as interns,
performing required work according to the criteria and expectations established
by the virtual organization. At the same time, students and instructors actively
shape this organization through their contributions. The resources students
and instructors develop contribute to the Profcomm site and become resources
for other students, instructors, and organizations in the community.
The Profcomm Center has a virtual organizational space that can be accessed
by members through Workplace™,
a client that connects users directly to a server built and maintained by
members of Profcomm. The Workplace™ server is home to classrooms, a reading
room, student classrooms and exhibits, and other dynamic online meeting spaces.
The Profcomm Center’s goal is to achieve partnerships between instructors, students, and organizations in the community. The Profcomm Center has worked with associations such as the Society for Technical Communication to create links between student projects and organizational needs. Eventually, we hope that organizations utilize the Profcomm site as a technical resource for professional communication, as well as to suggest analysis projects that students might conduct.
If you are interested in joining Profcomm, as a student, instructor, or community partner, please contact the Profcomm team.