As I've thought about this course and researched current developments in the teaching of technical and professional writing, I formulated the following eight objectives for this course.  This course will

1.  help students understand, in general, the contexts in which technical and professional writers function;
2.  help students become familiar with the genres (we'll define the term) of technical and professional writing;
3.  help students develop the analytical skills that they will need to understand and successfully function within the particular discourse communities (we'll define the term) that they will enter during their careers;
4.  help students develop the analytical skills that they'll need as they communicate between discourse communities;
5.   give students opportunities to do the kind of collaborative writing that is common in technical and business worlds;
6.  give students opportunities to become familiar with current developments in the literature of technology and the professions;
7.  give students opportunities to use the internet and the World Wide Web to interact with one another and to access information.