Demanding of Our Students, Demanding of Ourselves  

Students and faculty alike need to develop critical and practical technological literacies. Steps can be taken by programs and institutions to encourage faculty to develop critical technological literacies that are comparable to the literacies they demand of their students. Computing is everyone’s job. Com$uting will-in fact, already has-changed technical communication research, pedagogy, and practice. Likewise, technical communication can and will change the contexts andpractices of computing. Therefore, the responsibility for computing needs to be shared throughout our institutions.

Kitalong, Karla Saari and Wiliam J. Williamson, Jr. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>TC

Introduction to Professional Writing

This course is designed to be an introduction to professional/technical communication as a profession and academic discipline. We will examine current issues, theories and practices, career opportunities, professional development, significant tools, and UNI's curriculum.

Williamson, William J. University of Northern Iowa (2003). Academic>Courses>Writing>Business Communication

Linking Communication and Software Design Courses for Professional Development in Computer Science  

Although many programs require one or more project-based course for their majors, most students never get to work with a real client on a project that will be used outside the classroom setting. We felt strongly that students would benefit more from both their communication and their software design courses if they could somehow connect their efforts across traditional curricular boundaries and work with a real audiences and purposes. And in fact, this is what we found—students understood the relationship between their technical and communication responsibilities much more fully in both classes than either of us had experienced in these same courses prior to linking them.

Williamson, William J. and Philip H. Sweany. LLAD (1999). Academic>Computing>Communication>Software

Professional Development Online: Overview

This website discusses strategies for entering the job market. Whether you are looking for entry-level work or looking to move from one job to another, this site provides you with sound advice.

Williamson, William J. University of Northern Iowa. Careers>Advice

Professional Editing

This course is designed to be an introduction to the work of editing in a variety of settings. This screen provides your introduction to this site.

Williamson, William J. University of Northern Iowa (2003). Academic>Courses>Editing

Professional Writing Practicum/Cooperative Education

This course is designed to provide you with professional experience outside of the standard classroom.

Williamson, William J. University of Northern Iowa (2003). Academic>Courses>Writing>Business Communication

Program/Professional Management/Identity    

Technical communication faces the same identity crisis in 2001 that it did in 1991, 1981, 1971,and 1901. It seems that no matter how much energy technical communicators invest in the development and promotion of their expertise in their social and economic marketplaces, there are always morepeople who do not know what they do or why than there are people who understand what technical communication is. Certainly, this forces program administrators to recycle old arguments while relivingold battles and working to maintain their own institutional and professional integrity. Here, years after the emergence of technical communication as a viable academic pursuit and career choice, people stillwonder if technical communication is a profession or not. There are two sources of identity crisis here: 1) mismatched standards for judging technical communication as a profession, and 2) ill-suited language for framing the qualities of technical communication professionals.

Williamson, William J. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>TC