Teaching Technical Report Writing as Aesthetic Pursuit: An Innovative Approach

Abstract

In a typical technical report writing course, students are exposed to the techniques of what good technical writing is about and then are evaluated on their ability to produce a sample of what they have learned. Those who teach a technical writing course would agree that teaching the course can be a drab affair. We need a new way of approaching the subject to enliven it a bit and add spice to it. This paper sets out to show that to a certain extent, report writing is a kind of art form and reports which are submitted by students are artefacts whose quality varies from person to person. A new, innovative approach to teaching technical report writing from an aesthetic perspective is worth considering.