Preparation of Letters and Memoranda Facilitator Guide focuses on various forms of conveying information within a company and from the company to customers, contractors, vendors, etc., taking students sequentially through the process of business communications.

Five competency-based activities guide students through real-world scenarios. Students use the plan, write, revise process to compose an internal company memorandum, analyze three letters with varying degrees of appropriate language, and learn to consider audience, style, and tone when creating written business communication.

In a culminating activity, teams write a short series of memos communicating within their company, Robotic Grippers, Inc., and a letter communicating with an organization outside of their company, drawing on all the skills learned in the preceding tasks. An actual company that implements the competencies developed is profiled. Student workbook (Preparation of Letters and Memoranda Participant Journal) also available.

Click here to learn more.

Congratulations to Howard Kuhn of ProMetal and Beverly Davis of Purdue-South Bend! They are the lucky winners of an iPod, compliments of MERC.

During the 2005 ASEE Conference in Portland, OR, MERC held two daily iPod drawings for attendees who registered or submitted educational resources to our resource center.

Submissions included RM&RT (Rapid Manufacturing & Rapid Tooling)equipment, textbooks, papers, events, software, and curriculum materials.

Submissions to MERC are evaluated for technical quality, innovativeness, adoptability, and technical ease of use. If accepted for the MERC clearinghouse, our Publications team creates an abstract of the material and posts it in our searchable database. An active link is available for the user to acquire the material from the author's website.

MERC is a great tool to find and disseminate educational resources. Submissions from the conference attendees are in the beginning stages of this process. Watch your email for announcements of new additions to our database!

The National Center for Manufacturing Education (NCME) will provide a portion of the free hands-on training in Collaborative Design Processes and Rapid Prototyping/Tooling being offered August 7-13 in Dayton, Ohio and Ventura, California through a National Science Foundation project. Stipends to defray travel expenses will be provided to successful participants. Click here for registration information or more workshop details.

The NCME’s Self-Guided ALT (Authentic Learning Task) Development Kit, which provides step-by-step instructions for creating hands-on, activity-based classroom and lab experiences, will be used by faculty in both workshop tracks at both sites. Members of the NCME team will be facilitating training in the use of their ALT template, and each participant will receive his or her own kit, which has a retail value of $80. ALTs are an integral component of the unique curriculum architecture developed by the NCME.
Click here for more information on ALTs, the curriculum architecture, or the NCME’s own curriculum materials.

Faculty participating in the collaborative design track at both the Sinclair and Ventura sites will focus on software enhancements and instructional techniques in coordinating a team-based, long-distance collaborative project. A “Project in a Box” design module will be used. For the rapid prototyping track, the focus will be on the changing technology and how it can be incorporated into a manufacturing or design program. Both tracks will be introduced to an equipment bartering network.

Published by the NCME. Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.
MERC and the NCME are funded by the National Science Foundation.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.