WRIT200 Virtual Business Professional (VBP)

WRIT200 Virtual Business Professional (VBP)

In this course, students will work in virtual global teams, with students from other universities, to develop a proposal for a corporate client. Students will develop essential skills to thrive in the modern workplace – they will explore virtual collaboration tools, hone their interpersonal and intercultural competence, and employ data storytelling principles to craft persuasive narratives for business proposals.

In the first half of the course, students work in SMU teams to communicate their recommendations persuasively through corporate documents like executive summaries and Slidedocs. Through whole-class and small-group discussions, students explore theories on virtual communication and working in remote teams, and familiarize themselves with tools for cultural analysis and virtual collaboration.

In the culminating capstone project in collaboration with the University of Southern California (USC), students will work in global teams comprising students from universities across Asia, Europe and America to develop a proposal for a corporate client. Past industry partners of the VBP project included companies such as Google, Starbucks, Netflix, Tesla and SpaceX. Over 6 weeks, students collaborate virtually with their global counterparts to craft a report to the client of their choice, recommending strategies to enhance the client’s corporate reputation. In the course of the project, students use social and AI-driven collaboration tools, navigate cross-cultural team processes and learn to collaborate effectively across borders and time zones.

The deliverables in this course can be included in students’ portfolio of written and reflective work to showcase their ability to produce industry and discipline-specific communication outcomes. USC will award certificates of achievement to all participants.

Students will need to have either completed COR1100 Writing & Reasoning or WRIT001 Programme in Writing and Reasoning, or to have been exempted from it.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Critically evaluate virtual collaboration tools and effectively engage with teams virtually
• Collaborate effectively with their counterparts from diverse cultures and backgrounds towards shared goals
• Evaluate and design ways to translate research into actionable insights that influence decision making
• Examine, analyze and assess a real organizational challenge and provide recommendations
• Write and communicate persuasively in professional contexts