A Curriculum for the Research and Practice of International Technical Communication  

It is no secret that businesses around the world need to compete globally in order to survive. What is a secret is that technical communicators in every county in the world are untrained to deal with the issues, deadlines, standards, and quality measures necessary to address the needs of global businesses. This paper offers some ideas and justification for a curriculum in international technical communication.

Hoft, Nancy L. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>International

A Curriculum for the Research and Practice of International Technical Communication    

It is no secret that businesses around the world need to compete globally in order to survive. What is a secret is that technical communicators in every country in the world are untrained to deal with the issues, deadlines, standards, and quality measures necessary to address the needs of global businesses. This paper offers some ideas and justification for a curriculuum in international technical communication.

Hoft, Nancy L. Technical Communication Online (1995). Articles>Education>Globalization

Curriculum Re-design for Web-Based and Distance Learning: The 'Search' for Online Models  

This paper discusses the work in progress at the Illinois Institute of Technology/Program in Technical Communication and Information Design in web-based instruction and distance learning. Part I is a case study of issues involved in the re-positioning of a traditional classroom course in online design to Internet delivery. Part II discusses issues in the design of instructional materials for the web and cognitive principles for designing these materials.

Eiler, Mary Ann, Susan Feinberg and Margaret Murphy. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Deafened to Their Demands: An Ethnographic Study of Accommodation  

After a semester of working with the population of Deaf students on a larger southwestern, suburban University campus, it became clear that the institution would not be able to provide reasonable accommodations requested by deaf students. As I witnessed students, rightfully fighting for reasonable accommodations (as outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act), I saw individuals both inside and outside the institutional structures attempt change only to find themselves rebuffed. The institution itself was not able to accommodate the reasonable and lawful demands of the deaf population of students at the university, but interestingly the efforts of reformers inside the institution were similarly unable to enact significant change. The institution was unable to hear the pleas of its students but was equally unable to accommodate the demands of members of the administration seeking to provide services to these students.

Salvo, Michael J. Kairos (2002). Academic>Accessibility>Education

(Deeply) Resisting Arrest: Beyond the Either/Or of Information Technology in Technical & Scientific Communication Programs  

If I choose to walk or ride a bicycle to work in the morning, will I be perceived as an anti-technology Luddite because I have resisted driving my car? Probably not. In fact, I might be seen as someone who is environmentally aware and health conscious. When it comes to information technology, however, such resistance is seen quite differently.

Johnson, Robert R. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>Technology

Delivering Effective Web-Based Education  

Delivering effective Web-based education is a challenge more communication professionals will face in the near future. While many approaches exist for solving this problem, one expedient solution is videotaping traditional stand-and-deliver classes, compressing the video for streaming off the Web, synchronizing important visual material to key points in the video, and placing everything in a well-designed and easy-to-use Web site.

Gange, Charles and Mary Ellen Coleman. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Education>Instructional Design>Online

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

Design and Assessment of Web-Based Learning Environments: The Smart Engineering Project and the Instructional Software Development Center at U.M.R.  

We present a framework for web-based learning design, which consists of seven basic components: directionality, usability, consistency, interactivity, multi-modality, adaptability, and accountability. We propose that effective design begins with a clear delineation of the intended audience, usage context, and learning goals and that all further design occurs within the context of these factors (i.e. directionality). The design factors themselves can be seen as representing the fundamental contrasting goals of simplicity (usability and consistency) and complexity (interactivity, multi-modality, and adaptability). We propose that effective design consists of the proper balance of simplicity and complexity. Finally, design should include an evaluation component (accountability), which should in turn impact design modification via feedback. We review research that relates to the components of the framework, including a recent assessment on Web-Based modules as part of the PsychConnections project. We also pose recommendations and provide examples from the Smart Engineering Project and other instructional multi-media developed under the auspices of the Instructional Software Development Center at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Hall, Richard H., Steve E. Watkins, Robert Davis, Abdeldjelil Belarbi and K. Chandrashekhara. University of Missouri-Rolla (2003). Articles>Education>Online

Design Guidelines for Written Assignments

This paper discusses design guidelines educators can use to format their assignment instructions. The purpose of formatting is to avoid students' misinterpretation of the assignment and to receive more readable papers. Topics covered are design awareness and formatting tips on using headings, chunking information, and using special features.

Dyrud, Marilyn A. University of Pittsburgh. Articles>Education>Style Guides

Design Once: Use Again and Again and Again…  

You can either do it over and over again; or, you can design it once and use it again and again. The decision to create reusable learning modules need not be an expensive one. It just requires modular design.

Horton, William K. III. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Design, Results, and Analysis Assessment Components Nine-Course Program    

The case for assessment of college writing programs no longer needs to be made. Although none of us would have chosen the words, we all have come to accept the truth of Roger Debreceny’s words: the 'free ride' for America’s colleges and universities is indeed over (1). All writing programs face difficulties in selecting the means for the most effective evaluations for their individual programs. Key concerns include how appropriately, practically, and cost effectively various assessment tools address this problem.

Carson, J. Stanton, Patricia G. Wojahn, John R. Hayes and Thomas A. Marshall. LLAD (2003). Articles>Education>Writing>Assessment

Designing Accessible Web Based Courseware with Authoring Tools

Creation of Web based courseware has become easier and quicker, particularly, for non-Web experts with the advent of authoring software which allows authors to put together resources without requiring to learn HTML. However, there are problems regarding the accessibility of resources produced by such software, and this article discusses the nature of these problems and how they can be overcome.

Sloan, David. TechDis (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Designing Better Instructional Documents  

Demonstrates how principles of print design and visual literacy can improve the usability of course handouts.

Codone, Susan K. Intercom (2004). Articles>Education>Document Design

Designing Design Education

Designers today are involved in the development and design of new products and their interactions, software, virtual identities, web sites, strategic plans, wearable computers, digital libraries, games, and interactive exhibitions. The old monikers of graphic and industrial design aren't descriptive of the new fields of practice and research that are being explored today. These disciplines in fact have come to realize that they do not own the word `design.' The activity of design, as described by Simon (1969), is being practiced by a host of disciplines that include engineering, computer science, information systems, professional writing, and business. We encounter job titles such as software design, engineering design, human-computer interaction design, and systems design, to name a few. If design is so pervasive, who, then, is a designer and how is s/he educated?

Boyarski, Daniel. SIGCHI Bulletin (1998). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Assessment

Designing for Motivation and Usability in a Museum-Based Multi-User Virtual Environment  

This National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research project is creating and evaluating graphical multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) that use digitized museum resources to enhance middle school students' motivation and learning about science and its impacts on society. MUVEs enable multiple simultaneous participants to access virtual contexts, to interact with digital artifacts, to represent themselves through “avatars,” to communicate with other participants and with computer-based agents, and to enact collaborative learning activities of various types. Initially, MUVEs were based only on textual descriptions); now, many MUVEs are graphical in nature, or use graphics to enhance textual descriptions. Our project's educational environments are extending current MUVE capabilities in order to study the science learning potential of immersive simulations, interactive virtual museum exhibits, and 'participatory' historical situations (http://www.virtual.gmu.edu/muvees/). To accomplish this, we have built our own MUVE shell based on the Sense8 WorldToolKit (http://www.sense8.com/).

Dede, Chris, Diane Ketelhut and Kevin Ruess. Harvard University (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Usability

Designing Institutional Space to Bridge Institutional Divides    

Professional/technical writing has long been an effective curricular site for off-campus outreach. Especially compared to other humanities' disciplines (not that that category provides any stiff competition), professional/technical writing has emphasized practical application and liaison between the university and business/industry. Two of the chief reasons I am attracted to this field are its pragmatic orientation and its focus on writing-in-the-world.

Porter, James E. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Business Communication

Designing Web Sites to Educate, Induce Action, and Promote Participatory Communication for Decision-Making  

Knowing more about how web site characteristics work to reach non-e-commerce goals can guide web designers working towards some of those goals. Environmental advocacy sites are apt to provide rich examples of how web sites try to educate, change behaviors and values, induce action, and promote participatory decisionmaking. Studying them, then, may help us understand how the characteristics of their web sites work. This paper explores how a particular advocacy group web site, www.seedcoalition.org, educates and induces action in its visitors. The site seems likely to effectively educate and induce action, but could do more to induce deliberation and encourage interpersonal communication and discussion about issues, which might better support the group’s long term goals.

Sehmel, Heather. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Education

The Desirability Paradox in the Effects of Media Literacy Training    

This study examines a paradox in findings regarding the effects of media literacy training on adolescents' decision making about tobacco use. Recent experiments have found that media literacy training successfully reduced participants' beliefs associated with risky behavior, whereas at the same time, their positive affect toward individuals portrayed in advertising increased. Study results confirm the hypothesis that media literacy training changes the way individuals think about the desirability of portrayals in the media. Although desirability usually represents individuals' affect toward portrayals, reports gathered after media literacy training also appear to reflect participants' increased awareness of the efforts made by advertisers to produce attractive portrayals designed to sell products and services. This awareness reduces or eliminates the impact that positive affect otherwise would have on decision making. Because this analysis suggests that individuals may respond to survey questions differently depending on their level of skill or involvement, the results raise important issues regarding issues of reliability and validity that may extend well beyond tests of this theoretical model or particular evaluation.

Austin, Erica Weintraub, Bruce E. Pinkleton and Ruth Patterson Funabiki. Communication Research (2007). Articles>Education>Scientific Communication>Risk Communication

Determining Constraints for e-Learning

One of the challenges of starting an e-learning are the constraints. If you don’t uncover them before you begin a project and choose software, the issues can come back to haunt you. Following are questions you can ask to determine the constraints you'll need to address when implementing e-learning in your organization. You might need to ask additional questions, but these should give you a good start.

Carliner, Saul. Saul Carliner Studio (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Developing a Successful, Low-Maintenance Internship Program  

EDS High Tech Publications has developed a successful, low maintenance internship program. The program was designed to meet the needs of all the participants. EDS cultivates a talent pool to hire from and provides training for their own employees. Interns develop jobs skills and gain experience. The schools establish ties with local professionals.

Smimov, Lynette L.. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Internships>Education

Developing Industrial Cases For Technical Writing on Campus  

At the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the World's Engineering Congress met and included special section, 'Division E, Engineering Education.' This division was the seed for The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, and one paper delivered in the section was 'Training of Students in Technical Literary Work,' evidencing early concern about engineers' education in technical writing. But concern alone did not solve the problem. Two decades later Edward D. Sabine, a terminal engineer, complained that most college graduated engineers could not even write a decent letter. And in the same year F. W. Springer, a professor of electrical engineering, spoke of the need for teaching 'engineering-English.' Fifty years ago Hale Sutherland, a professor of Civil Engineering, described how Case School of Applied Science had instituted a two-course, technical writing requirement to overcome 'the engineer's ancient weakness, his inability to speak and write effectively.' One approach to solving this problem has been cooperation. Seventy years ago C. W. Park wrote an article about the cooperative program at the University of Cincinnati, in which members of the Engineering and English Departments worked together to promote better writing; obviously the idea of teaming up is hardly new. Thirty years ago The Journal of Engineering Education published another description of a cooperative effort and just five years ago devoted an entire issue to technical writing. The need for teaching engineers to write and the difficulties in accomplishing the objective even cooperatively have been recognized for almost a century; we are still grappling with the problem.

Mair, David and John Radovich. JAC (1985). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

Development of an English for Specific Purposes

The University of Aizu Technical Writing course was established to help computer science majors develop writing skills needed for their academic and future career activities. The course was first organized and presented for the 1994 school year and has been undergoing continued evaluation and alteration. During the first two years, the course was presented in the two sophomore terms using courseware project team developed lesson plans and handouts. In the first year, these lesson plans and handouts were supplemented with a technical writing textbook and handbook. By the third year, a draft of the University of Aizu's Technical Writing 1 Handbook served as the text material for the first term of the course. However, the second term of the course was moved to the senior year to provide students needed guidance and assistance in the planning and writing of their graduation research reports. The finalized version of the University of Aizu's Technical Writing 1 Handbook will be published prior to the 1997 school year, and a Technical Writing 2 Handbook which will be designed around the university's research report format and requirements is planned for the 1998 school year.

Izzo, John. Internet TESL Journal, The. Articles>Education>Regional>Japan

Dichotomy, Consubstantiality, Technical Writing, Literary Theory: The Double Orthodox Curse  

Where are the departments that are truly strong at the extremes of literature and technical writing, yet have a Rogerian discussion of the differences going on? The sort of department I mean would offer work in technical and professional writing comparable to that at Rensselaer or Carnegie Mellon and literary theory comparable to that at Duke or Berkeley. Am I wrong in assuming that technical writers can and do move all the way from one extreme to the other, while literature professors do not see themselves either at an extreme or as part of any sort of continuum that would, if followed far enough, reach to the writing of software documentation for a process control?

Neel, Jasper. JAC (1992). Articles>Education>TC

Different Names, Similar Challenges: What's Behind the Rumored Merger of Instructional Design and Technical Communication

Instructional designers increasingly find technical communicators in their territory, as technical communicators find instructional designers. Is this increasing contact merely a coincidence, or does it portend an evolutionary merger of the two fields?

Carliner, Saul. Saul Carliner Studio (2001). Careers>Education>Instructional Design

Digital Language and Literacy: An Online Course Design Learning Community  

This paper overviews a discipline-specific educational technology assistance program titled Digital Language and Literacy, which links technologically literate graduate students in English with faculty developing online courses for the first time. Such models not only help with online course design but also help to establish technological and pedagogical learning communities among current and future faculty.

Blair, Kristine L. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Online>Case Studies