Technical and Professional Communication Programs and the Small College Setting: Opportunities and Challenges    

This article argues that the small school context has been a relatively unexamined or under-examined context for technical and professional communication program development. While graduate program development holds a large share of the field's attention in recent national forums, growth in graduate programs is a consequence of demand in the job market among mostly "teaching" schools. Thus, the field must consider how well we are socializing new Ph.D.s into the values and the real work of institutions where they will find employment. Toward this end, this article articulates three mediating forces of program development in the liberal arts and humanities settings of small schools: 1) interdisciplinarity and flexibility are lived dynamics of small schools; 2) the campus-wide privileging of writing and communication skills presents ongoing opportunities for curricular initiatives and program development; and 3) compression of decision-making structures leads to more involvement of/with administrators and units across campus.

Latterell, Catherine G. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>Education>TC>Business Communication

Technical Communication and Late Capitalism: Considering a Postmodern Technical Communication Pedagogy    

This article proposes a postmodern reconceptualization of technical communication pedagogy to make student and professional agency a major concern, especially because technical communicators must compete in a global economy that rewards flexibility and penalizes inflexibility. Postmodern mapping metaphors and Robert Reich's methodology for training 'symbolic-analytic' workers are used to suggest ways in which a postmodern approach to technical communication could be taught.

Wilson, Greg. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>TC>Education

Technical Communication Education in India  

It, perhaps, may not be an exaggeration to say that the words 'Technical Communication' and 'Technical Writing' became familiar to Indians only in the late Eighties. As the software companies in India started hiring writers for their counterparts in the US and Europe, there was new demand for a specialized breed of writers. The authors felt that to ensure there was a steady supply of trained writers, a structured training program on the subject was vital. This paper takes a look at the involvement of the authors, the industry, and teaching methodology employed in a course on Technical Writing offered by an Indian University.

Ravishankar R and Tharun K. Unni. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Education>TC>India

Technical Communication Instruction in Engineering Schools: A Survey of Top-Ranked U.S. and Canadian Programs    

This survey of 73 top-ranked U.S. and Canadian engineering schools examines initiatives that engineering schools are taking to improve communication instruction for their students. The survey reveals that 50% of the U.S. schools and 80% of the Canadian schools require a course in technical communication. About 33% of the schools utilize some form of integrated communication instruction, and another 33% offer elective courses in communication. Just 10 schools have created engineering communication centers to provide additional individualized coaching and feedback for their students. The most comprehensive preparation that engineering schools provide is a communication-across-the-curriculum approach that combines these instructional methods to offer concentrated instruction, continual practice, situated learning, and individualized feedback.

Reave, Laura. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2004). Articles>Education>TC>Engineering

The Future of Technical Communication According to Those Who Teach It  

What do those who teach technical communication think about the present state of the field? How do they envision its future? This article answers those and related questions by presenting results from a survey of technical communication teachers in higher education. The Web-delivered survey was administered in 2003 by the author in collaboration with Stephen Bernhardt (University of Delaware). The data we analyzed came from 228 members of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW), almost half of the organization's members. Among the respondents were 185 teaching faculty. These teachers' diverse views about the future of technical communication reflect a fundamental fault line within the academic sphere of our discipline.

Dayton, David. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>TC

The Tie That Binds: Technical Communication in the High School Classroom  

Technical communication instruction prepares high school students for success in the workplace and life-long learning. It prepares the community to compete for business opportunities with an articulate, flexible, and motivated workforce. To succeed for the greatest diversity of students, a techcom curriculum should be an integral part of solutions to larger problems of student reading and language deficits, overpopulated classrooms, inadequate teacher training and administrative support, and limited resources. Innovative teachers use their lesson plans to direct their greatest creative resource--their students--to learning and service to their schools and communities.

Abbott, F. Thomas. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>TC

Trends in Research and Faculty Preparation  

The field of technical communication continues to emerge both as a profession and an academic discipline as we enter the 21st century. In response to the accelerating demand for well-educated technical communication practitioners, programs and courses are proliferating at institutions throughout the world. Yet, there appears to be limited research conducted in the area of technical communication, particularly on the subject of preparation of technical communication faculty. This paper presents an overview of the major types of research methodologies commonly taught in academic programs and discusses the design of a proposed empirical research study that will assess the preparation of technical communication faculty in higher education institutions across the United States.

Rash-Konneh, Doris J. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>TC>Education

Trends in Undergraduate Curriculum in Scientific and Technical Communication Programs    

Because we have no definitive information that describes the curriculum for a typical technical communication program, programs have developed and evolved into unique offerings.

Harner, Sandi and Anne Rich. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Education>TC

Using Handhelds in the Technical Communication Classroom  

A report on the use of pocket PCs in a document design course and a graduate course researching the emerging technology of handhelds.

Smith, Elizabeth Overman 'Betsy'. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>TC>PDA

The Virtues of Independence  

Most technical communication programs are housed within departments that may not respect our field's separate identity nor share interdisciplinary concerns. An alternative is program independence. Although currently not the norm, and entailing potential practical and political drawbacks for some programs, such independence may be most appropriate for programs aiming to prepare students for technical communication careers. The benefits of independence can include: focusing the curriculum more adaptively; improving faculty status and teaching by balancing traditional academic norms with workplace standards and methods; and creating more powerful and effective identities for both our programs and our profession.

Rehling, Louise. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Education>TC

What Is Thought?      

Students think better with “props,” i.e., concrete physical examples to discuss and manipulate. This observation, however, leads to a much broader theoretical insight. Thought, by its nature, equally requires the developing organization of physical objects and the mediating traffic of neuronal impulses in our brains.

Manning, Alan D. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2001). Articles>Education>TC

Why Do Students Entering a Major in Technical Communication Resist the Introductory Course?  

I have been teaching HU2600, Introduction to Technical and Scientific Communication, a course in which students are introduced to the major and the profession for the last three years. Students have resisted this course during, and previous teachers report that the resistance preceded my taking over the course. I believe that students' resistance is tied, first, to the nature of technical communication education. Using C. S. Lewis's definitions, I point out that teaching the technical communication curriculum is not technically the same thing as educating the student; nor is it equivalent to offering students the chance to pursue 'learning' for its own sake. Rather, it is training aimed at producing a specialist. As such, the technical communication curriculum is what Lewis calls a composite curriculum chosen for the student by those who understand the profession better than they do. Add to this definition Jacques Ellul's claim that education in the technological society attempts to make people happy doing things they would normally not choose to do (348), and we arrive at an accurate, though unflattering, description of the project of 'educating' majors in technical communication.

Sullivan, Dale L. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Education>TC

Why Should We Be Exploring Accountability?  

We probably need to think much more than we have in the past in terms of assessment, external evaluation, and accountability. We are hearing ever more frequently the concerns of administrators, regents, legislators, and departments of education for greater accountability by universities-concerns that will be passed down the administrative levels to program directors and teachers. This may be a blessing in disguise, an opportunity to tell the public who we are and why we are important.

Savage, Gerald J. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC>Assessment

The Zen of TC: Transgressing Imagined Boundaries Between Liberal Arts and Technical Communication  

The field of Technical Communication has long recognized the value of bringing the world of business and research into the TC classroom. Indeed, most TC programs not only require students to analyze case studies of real-world business enterprises, they also require students to participate in intensive internship programs. Certainly, TC students who engage in exercises either modeled after effective business and research practices or directly situated within these environments are better able to contribute to their employer's success once they graduate.

Mott, Richard K. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC

Training Technical Communicators for Management

When you think of the best manager you have ever worked for, you probably remember his/her ability to motivate you and your colleagues, his/her professional but personable demeanor, and the way his/her organizational skills matched the right person with the right responsibilities. In your management role, you strive to do all these things. However, to make the greatest impact, you must not only excel as a manager yourself, but also help the next generation of leaders develop their managerial skills.

Erber-Stark, Jessica. TechCom Manager (2007). Articles>Management>TC>Education

Teaming a Team of Writers

As a retired teacher with many years of experience, I’m new to the world of technical writing. However, from what I’ve observed so far, all the world is not only a stage; all the world is also a classroom.

Grabill, Pat. TechCom Manager (2006). Articles>TC>Education

Teaching Students in Trades and Technologies    

Teaching students in academic settings can be very different than teaching technical communication to nonacademic students. Campbell gives tips on how to teach those in trades and technologies effectively.

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

A Technical Speaking Course in Mathematics

Development and Implementation of a Technical Speaking Course in Mathematics, will give students an opportunity to cultivate technical, discipline-specific, verbal communication skills and experiences needed to be successful in their chosen disciplines. They will develop skills in assessing an audience’s technical sophistication and adapting their own communications to accommodate the audience. Mathematics will become a familiar “vehicle” for development of general and technical communication competencies.

University of Pittsburgh (2004). Articles>Education>TC>Mathematics

A Laboratory in Citizenship: Service Learning in the Technical Communication Classroom    

This article presents an argument for and offers illustrations of service learning in technical communication courses and curricula. Alongside traditional internships that prepare students as future employees, service learning provides students with an education in engaged citizenship. This article reviews service-learning literature, discussing specifically the advantages of projects to students, faculty, and the community. The authors also describe three projects in which instructors and students integrated service learning and technical communication in innovative ways.

Sapp, David Alan and Robbin D. Crabtree. Technical Communication Quarterly (2002). Articles>TC>Service Learning>Education

Sketching a Framework for Graduate Education in Technical Communication    

Graduate education in technical communication should provide students with an expansive view of the field. Toward that end, we offer a three-dimensional framework that represents technical communication as a robust, diverse, complex whole. Although the framework aims towards coherence, it embraces contradiction. That is, the framework represents a totality but does not purport to be the only possible representation. Key to the framework is our belief that the gap between theory and practice can actually be productive. Almost all binaries encourage overly simplistic understandings. But we should not allow the goal of remediating the binary to close off the important tensions that can allow the field to advance. This very gap is actually one of the few sites in which new ideas and approaches can be forged.

Johnson-Eilola, Johndan and Stuart A. Selber. Technical Communication Quarterly (2001). Articles>Education>TC

Technical Communication Degrees for the 21st Century    

The practice of technical communication, especially for professionals just entering the workplace, is rapidly changing. Companies have higher expectations for degrees in technical communication, a strong foundation in technology, and the ability to function on cross-disciplinary teams alongside technical experts in the design and development process. As the practice of technical communication shifts its focus, academics have the responsibility to be certain that technical communication degree programs have a strong component of such topics as engineering design, programming, human factors, usability, instructional design, and project management, in addition to traditional communication skills. Academic programs have lagged behind practice, largely due to the location of degree programs, departmental reward systems, faculty deficiencies in technology, little depth in fields beyond rhetoric, and lack of exposure to best industry practices. This paper addresses these issues and makes some practical recommendations for catching academe up to practice.

David, Marjorie T. ACM SIGDOC (2000). Articles>Education>TC

Practitioner Research Instruction: A Neglected Curricular Area in Technical Communication Undergraduate Programs    

Most technical communication practitioners conduct research throughout their careers. Yet, a survey of the Web sites of 114 undergraduate technical communication programs between September 2006 and April 2007 revealed that 65% (about two thirds) of these programs are providing minimal or no exposure to research instruction and therefore are not sufficiently preparing students to handle the types of research they will encounter in their upcoming careers. Given the disconnect between the centrality of research in the work that technical communicators do and the low presence of research instruction at the undergraduate level, academics need to look for ways to overcome institutional and other constraints in order to give research training greater priority in their undergraduate programs.

Spilka, Rachel. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2009). Articles>TC>Education>Research

The Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication at 35 Years: A Sequel and Perspective  

Building on the 1996 retrospective by Pearsall and Warren, the authors examine the decade that followed for the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication (CPTSC). As the world became more closely knitted together through trade agreements and advancements in communication technology, CPTSC took up its mission in response as it helped promote program growth internationally. During this period, the organization added many more members beyond the United States, as it hosted a series of roundtables in Europe and Canada, working to diversify the ethnic make-up of its membership through scholarships.

Maylath, Bruce A.R. and Jeffrey Grabill. Programmatic Perspectives (2009). Articles>Education>TC>History