An Interdisciplinary Course in Technical Communication    

Adresses engineering students' complaints that technical communication courses are not relevant to their major area of study. Describes a joint course in metallurgical engineering and English taught in the same classroom, with credit given in both subjects.

Andrews, Deborah C. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Education>TC>Engineering

An International Technical Communication Curriculum: The Value Added  

In the expanding global economy, the focus on international communication has largely been devoted to machine translation of technical documents, and in a world of online information it only makes sense to take advantage of the computer’s speed and relative accuracy in translating documents. However, with the emphasis on machine translation as the standard, we still need well-trained people to conduct international business intelligently and effectively. The prototype curriculum presented below outlines some of the objectives and components for a program which focuses on both the technological and cultural elements of international technical communication.

Heba, Gary M. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>TC>International

International Technical Training and Communication: Case Studies from the Industry  

A key element for the success of any business that operates in today's fast changing business environment is the optimization of communication and training resources. This is especially critical for a medical device company. The challenges of local language, culture, and regulations must be addressed by an iterative examination and adaptation of sales training and product literature to local needs. We developed strategies for planning, training, translating, producing, and implementing that provide our sales staff, physicians, and patients with useful product and therapy information.

Guthertz, Harriet and Richard J. Mann. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>TC>Education>Case Studies

Introducing Technical Communication Into the High School Curriculum  

For years, technical employers have been lamenting: 'We want to hire employees who can communicate well with their co-workers, their supervisors, and the company's customers!' Now, a new course being taught in Canadian high schools will prepare students to do exactly that. The course has been developed by the Province of Manitoba, the first province to start teaching Technical Communication in the Canadian public school system. The curriculum has been pilot-tested for two years and the program goes full stream in September 1996.

Blicq, Ronald S. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>TC

Looking Toward the Electronic Future in the Classroom  

The electronic tools available in the technical communication classroom have increased in number and sophistication over the last decade. Our three panelists examine the implications to the classroom of virtual reality, E-mail, and 'the information superhighway.'

Glover, Kyle S. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>TC>Online

Making Sense of the Visual in Technical Communication: A Visual Literacy Approach to Pedagogy    

We employ an array of terms to denote the visual; however, we have not yet agreed on a clear framework for understanding the function and relationship between visual concepts. I propose a literacy approach to the visual so that as educators, researchers, students, and practitioners, we acquire more than skills that rely on changing definitions and technologies but an intellectual faculty that provides the knowledge, understanding, and abilities that the visual affords. Through an analysis of arguments for visual instruction, I present the wayS in which scholars justify their claims about the visual. These arguments uncover the breadth and depth of the visual and contribute to a taxonomy of visual terminology.

Portewig, Tiffany Craft. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>TC>Education>Visual Rhetoric

An Online Approach to Teaching International Outsourcing in Technical Communication Classes    

The growth of international online access has given rise to a new production method--international outsourcing--that has important implications for technical communication practices. Successful interactions within international outsourcing require individuals to understand how cultural factors could affect online interactions. Today's technical communication students therefore need to understand how factors of culture and media could affect the success with which they operate in international outsourcing activities. This article provides technical communication instructors with a series of Web-based exercises they can use to familiarize students with different aspects that can affect intercultural online interactions. It also provides a series of online resources students can use to enhance their understanding of cross-cultural communication in cyberspace.

St. Amant, Kirk R. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2005). Articles>TC>Outsourcing>Education

Online Teaching Opportunities for Technical Communicators    

Supplement your income and provide students with real-world knowledge and experience. Learn what kinds of online teaching opportunities are out there for technical communicators.

Petit, Angela. Intercom (2008). Articles>Education>TC>Online

Participatory Design and Technical Communication: Challenges and Opportunities in Programmatic Assessment and Evaluation  

Technical Communication pedagogies that are informed by theories of Participatory Design offer new challenges and opportunities for both the assessment of student work and group projects, and in the evaluation of programmatic goals.

Moore, Michael R. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Education>TC>Participatory Design

Preparing Students to Work with Technical Staff  

Technical communication programs should help students prepare to work with technical staff as well as develop writing, analysis, and communication skills. This presentation identifies assignments faculty can use to help students prepare to work effectively with technical staff: learning about what the writing technical staff do; learning about working in technical settings; interviewing faculty and staff; writing about science and technology for different audiences; editing a research article manuscript; learning about data networking; shadowing a technical professional; publishing a newsletter incorporating graduates’ observations and suggestions; having technical staff as well as technical communicators as guest speakers; and participating in STC.

Samson, Donald C., Jr. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>TC>Collaboration

Professional Development Stem Overview  

The Professional Development stem provides opportunities to enhance your growth — as an individual in the technical communication profession, as a member of work teams, and as an active participant in STC. Through a variety of presentations, you’ll gain information that will assist in the evolution of your career plans, contribute to your personal enrichment, and improve your contributions as an STC leader within your chapter and the Society.

Ecker, Pamela S. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>TC>Education

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

Reading and Writing for Engineering Students  

Since numerous engineering colleges are currently creating or expanding programs in technical communication, many universities are debating whether the program should be placed in the English department or in the college of engineering itself. In arguing for the latter option, a number of technical writing teachers have published the opinion that our courses are markedly different from general courses on expository prose which are taught in English departments. This is true; there are essential points of departure. However, one difference that is frequently cited is the requiring of a good deal of reading during a writing course. This approach is generally associated with English departments, having no relevance to the way technical writing is properly taught. In this paper, I shall present two reasons for including numerous reading assignments when teaching technical writing to engineering students, and I shall suggest methods by which to do so.

Spretnak, Charlene M. JAC (1983). Articles>Education>TC

Reflections of a GTA on the Teaching of Technical Writing

Though I have a degree in technical communication and have worked as a technical writer for four years, I still had no idea what should be taught in a technical writing classroom, or how one should go about teaching it. Before I ventured into the arena as an instructor, I wanted to find out what goes on in a technical writing classroom. Two types of practical research that I thought would provide some insight into technical writing instruction were: an observation of different technical communication classrooms; and a survey of various textbooks available for technical communication courses.

Anderson, Ginger. Michigan Tech University (1998). Articles>Education>TC>Technical Writing

Rethinking Plagiarism for Technical Communication    

This article proposes that technical and professional communication instructors reconsider the treatment of the concept of plagiarism in current curriculum. I begin by examining existing approaches to teaching technical communication students about plagiarism and explaining the need for rethinking plagiarism in light of contemporary technical communication practices. The second section suggests several preliminary steps for addressing these issues, including revisions to plagiarism policies, classroom practices, and the treatment of plagiarism in textbooks. I conclude with a call for increased industry-academic dialog on the dissonance between the treatment of plagiarism in the classroom and in workplace practices.

Reyman, Jessica. Technical Communication Online (2008). Articles>Education>TC>Plagiarism

The Skills that Technical Communicators Need: An Investigation of Technical Communication Graduates, Managers, and Curricula    

This study examines the skills that recent technical communication graduates and managers believe technical communication students need before entering business and industry as new technical communicators. Through questionnaires and interviews with recent graduates and managers of technical communication departments as well as an analysis of the participating schools' curricula, this study suggests areas where technical communication may need more preparation, including business operations, project management, problem-solving skills, and scientific and technical knowledge. Further research is needed at local, state, and national levels to analyze technical communication undergraduate curricula along with responses from recent graduates of technical communication programs and managers of technical communication programs. Only through continued research can we ensure that future technical communicators receive an education that eases their transition into the world of business and industry.

Whiteside, Aimee L. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>Education>TC>Workplace

So You Want to Teach Technical Communication?  

Institutions of higher education often hire technical and business communicators on a part-time basis to teach professional and technical writing courses. This workshop prepares practitioners for teaching positions by offering practice planning syllabi for courses, developing and critiquing writing assignments, examining student writing and criticizing its strengths and weaknesses, testing and discussing strategies for handling the paper flow and effective time management, and consulting with two experienced professors who are also researchers in the field. Participants will work in small groups to examine real papers, real syllabi, and real problems.

Philbin, Alice I. and Michael L. Keene. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Education>TC

STC-U: Supporting Members through Education

How does an STC chapter address such a wide scope of skills and interests? The answer for us is an educational program called STC-U.

Nelsen, Kymm. Tieline (2003). Articles>Education>TC

A Teacher's Perspective: An Interview with George Hayhoe

A lot of faculty feel threatened by distance learning because they think that it’s going to displace them. If a University’s view of courses is 'canned courses', then the instructor is no longer needed. In theory, the University can capture a professor’s intellectual property once and offer the course as often as the University wants to without any further compensation to the professor. To me, canned courses are not graduate education anyway. I guess watching a tape lecture is better than nothing at all. Of course, you can read books and get the ideas if that’s all you want, but to me graduate education is more than just reading books. The major experience is the exchange of ideas between instructor and students. I don’t think videotaping or HTML-izing lectures gives you that.

Hayhoe, George F. STC Online Information SIG (1998). Articles>Education>TC

Teaching a Distance Education Version of the Technical Communication Service Course: Timesaving Strategies    

The author has taught a distance education version of the undergraduate technical communication service course at Boise State University since 1997 and shares the strategies he has found to decrease the time instructors spend teaching online, thereby enabling them to use the time they do have to enhance their students' online experience. These strategies are distributed among four areas: management of collaboration, presentation of course material, grading, and interaction with students. For each one, the author presents the problems that may occur and approaches to resolving them. The article addresses a number of concerns expressed in the scholarly literature on distance education and is informed by surveys given to five sections of the author's course taught between 2001 and 2003. Interspersed through the article is an overview of some of the current research and commentary on distance education of particular interest to those teaching the technical communication service course via the Internet.

Battalio, John T. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Articles>TC>Education>Online

Teaching Effective Feedback Skills  

Offers practical suggestions for teaching students of technical communication how to provide effective feedback on documents.

Willen, Matt. Intercom (2004). Articles>Education>TC

Teaching Professionalism in the Classroom    

Looks at what it means to be professional as a technical writer, as a teacher, and as a student and explains how to teach professionalism in the classroom.

Campbell, Alexa. Intercom (2008). Articles>Education>TC>Professionalism

Teaching Technical Communication

In the early 1900s, technical communication was a burgeoning professional field, represented in academe by service courses taught primarily at engineering institutions. By the 1980's, however, it had become a significant professional and academic discipline in its own right. James Souther (1990) offers the following as evidence to support this assertion: the expansion of professional organizations, in particular, the Society for Technical Communication; the growth of academic organizations like the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing and the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication; the quality of research, for business through the Document Design Center, and from academe, particularly at Carnegie Mellon; representation on the programs of conventions of major academic groups like the Modern Language Association and the National Council of Teachers of English; an increase in the number of offerings, both in terms of classes and degree programs, at colleges and universities. Often colleges and universities that are just beginning to include technical communication in their curricula do so using faculty trained in traditional English doctoral programs. This ERIC Digest examines several areas of concern for such institutions and discusses 1) characteristics of technical communication; 2) issues in teaching technical communication; and 3) resources in teaching technical communication.

Kelley, Rebecca. ERIC Digest (1991). Articles>Education>TC

Teaching the History of Technical Communication: A Lesson With Franklin and Hoover    

The first part of this article shows that research in the history of technical communication has increased in quantity and sophistication over the last 20 years. Scholarship that describes how to teach with that information, however, has not followed, even though teaching the history of the field is a need recognized by several scholars. The article provides and defends four guidelines as a foundation to study ways to incorporate history into classroom lessons: 1) maintain a continued research interest in teaching history; 2) limit to technical rather than scientific discourse; 3) focus on English-language texts; and 4) focus on American texts, authors, and practices. The second part of the essay works within the guidelines to show a lesson that contrasts technical texts by Benjamin Franklin and Herbert Hoover. The lesson can help students see the difference in technical writing before and after the Industrial Revolution, a difference that mirrors their own transition from the university to the workforce.

Todd, Jeff. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2003). Articles>TC>History>Education