Thoughts on Designing a Master's Certificate Program
http://www.cptsc.org/conferences/2000/Bridgeford.html
  peer-reviewed

Bridgeford, Tracy
CPTSC Proceedings
2000

Abstract:

Despite the success of internship components, however, a common complaint from industry professionals still exists: that students still don't know how to write. Part of this complaint could be explained by specific industry practices for which students still need to be trained. Another part could rest in the need for more research about industry contexts. Still another, and probably the most likely, is the perceived differences in academe and industry expectations for theoretical components of curricula. Academics assume that industry professionals seek practical skills dealing with 'correctness' in language (e.g., grammar, spelling, punctuation) at the expense of theory; while industry professionals assume academics seek more conceptual components (e.g., philosophy) at the expense of practice. I think both parties are asking for the same thing: they seek students/employees who can develop an understanding of the how and the why of their work (Miller, 1979); that is, students who possess productive knowledge about a particular craft. In other words, they exemplify a techne (Atwill). In classical rhetoric, techne is associated with the 'knowledge of arts and crafts associated with the making of things' (Johnson, 1998, p. 51). In Technical Communication, one way to think of techne is through genre knowledge, that is, knowing which form suits a particular situation and why.