Three writing workshops are held every semester by the BYU-Idaho Department of Communication.
Communication Department faculty member, Joel Judkins gave the first workshop this semester. He says “communication is important and clear communication is rare.”
Writing workshops are a great way for students to learn writing skills that are valuable in any job field. The workshops help students write more clearly, creatively and to get their message to a specific audience.
“Everybody can improve their writing. I can improve my writing. I would say, anybody who is interested in improving their writing should come,” Judkins says.
Judkins adds that human writing provides personality and “voice” that AI is unable to produce.
“I think it’s beneficial to anybody who want to be able to write in their own voice,” Judkins says, “I know that AI can write for us, but it doesn’t know our voice. It writes in its voice, and I think it’s a very distinctive AI voice.”
He says that good writing helps students be more marketable in the workplace because it is a sign of good thinking. Judkins says writing helps him to clarify his own thinking.
“In order to think we have to talk to other people,” Judkins says. “Good writing means you have good thinking. Good writing, you can’t do that unless your thinking is clear.”
Joel Judkins taught the first writing workshop, “The Right Word and The Almost Right Word.” The next writing workshop will be with Department of Communication faculty member, Cory Kerr on Thursday, June 5 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The topic has not been announced yet.