#19068
We should not pursue specialization in our programs. We should not become the multimedia development program, or the computer documentation program, or the medical writing program, or the environmental communication program, or even the critical literacy program. We should build programs around a broad, useful rhetorical education, coupled with a skill set that all students share in writing and document design. We should make sure all students develop productive relationships with communication technologies. And we should allow students to follow their interests and to find the kind of specialization that is rewarding to them individually.
Bernhardt, Stephen A. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA
#19073
Building Consortia in Scientific and Technical Communication 
When many of us began to establish our programs in Scientific and Technical Communication our main concerns were establishing a balance between technology and communication, establishing internships, and getting acceptance in whatever department in the university we happened to be part of. While those concerns still remain, we are faced with new, additional issues, as well as new problems associated with the older, but still present issues, in establishing and maintaining programs. This paper will note some of those issues and will make some suggestions for helping to approach them. I will not presume to have solutions, just ideas about which we can talk to perhaps help focus some discussion leading to some solutions. Rather than focus on each specific problem, I want to focus on a specific approach to new programs which, I think, might be a way to approach many of the problems and challenges we face in a global, electronic environment. The approach to a solution, which I'm proposing is developing 'joint ventures' or 'Consortia.' I'll herein explain my definition of joint venture or consortia programs.
Coggin, William O. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA>Collaboration
#19080
Directing Growth and Growing Directors: Developing Leaders for Technical Communication Programs 
Designing and directing technical communication programs requires special skills. Clearly faculty taking on these roles must be well-versed in the scholarship of the discipline. But they face additional challenges not often faced by other department chairs or program directors, especially those in liberal arts disciplines. Here’s a brief overview of some of these challenges.
Hansen, Craig. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA
#19100
Going it Alone: How a Freestanding Program Develops Its Own Identity
Going it alone, the SFSU program has integrity as a community, yet struggles a bit within an institutional structure designed for established discipline departments.
Rehling, Louise. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA
#19099
It is not industry collaboration that has caused the Wayne State program to founder. Indeed, many in the English Department might bristle at that term, believing the program is thriving. Nevertheless, contradictions within the department that reflected and repeated historical patterns have allowed the program to wither.
Ranney, Frances J. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA
#19093
Growing Technical Communication Programs through Recruiting
This paper lists recruitment strategies that technical communication programs can use. Its purpose is to prompt discussion at the CTPSC conference in response to the following question: Which strategies bear the most promise for recruiting sufficient numbers of students to supply the growing need for technical communicators?
Maylath, Bruce A.R. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA
#19097
If You Build It, Will They Come? The Importance of Promoting Technical/Professional Writing Programs
Although the field of technical/professional writing continues to grow apace with the demand for its graduates, a large number of people, especially students, have never heard of it, or, if they've heard of it, have no idea what it is. Consequently, our program has begun an aggressive promotional campaign.
Patterson, Celia. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA>Marketing
#19076
As faculty and administrators responsible for program implementation continue to explain to each other how engineers, computer programmers, business managers, and technical communicators view the world, I hope that a new and genuinely collaborative, interdisciplinary program will emerge. The resulting opportunities for students will--I hope--be worth the trouble.
Ecker, Pamela S. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA
#13845
This article argues for a social perspective of the new technical communication service course, a conclusion supported by several premises: the technical communication profession wants and needs accountability, accountability is demonstrated by evaluation, assessment requires that we define literacy, evaluating technical communication literacy requires portfolio evaluation, portfolio assessment supports the social perspective of learning, and the social construction concepts imply teaching strategies. The argument proceeds from a case study that demonstrates reliability, stability, and validity in its technical communication service course assessment, tasks, and instructor community. This article demonstrates that portfolios can help us both conceptualize and evaluate the new technical communication service course.
Coppola, Nancy W. Technical Communication Quarterly (1999). Articles>Education>WPA>Assessment
#19091
Should We Concentrate on Developing Specialized Programs to Fill Particular Niches?
This question, posed as one of many in the annual call for papers, asks further if we should, in developing our technical communications programs, focus on such niches as environmental, safety, or medical writing, writing on the Web, on computer documentation, or on multimedia. As someone who has been asked to coordinate a rethinking of our school’s technical writing curriculum, such a question is paramount. From the perspective of one such as myself, who teaches at a small institution, the answer to this question hinges on three primary considerations: first, how does one balance the need to serve a small university’s duty to serve the general, liberal education requirements of a small body of students with the need to turn out graduates who have specific, marketable skills (a particularly important consideration in technical writing)? Second, how specialized can we make a class in a college like mine before enrollment figures for these classes dry up? And third, are the categories of the niches listed above really mutually exclusive, or can we say that some of them, such as writing for the Web, could be seen as a focus area that could incorporate some of the others?
LaGrandeur, Kevin. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA
#19098
Like many businesses, many academic programs in professional and technical communication attempt to promote themselves as unique and as fulfilling a particular niche. Such specific orientations can serve a marketing function. For instance, some professional and technical programs use their advertising literature to promote classes that train students in the uses of cutting edge technologies. And as this conference's call for proposals suggests, some programs may begin to focus primarily on a particular type of technical communication such as computer documentation, medical writing, or multimedia.
Praetorius, Pete. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA>Marketing
#20913
WPA-L: Writing Program Administration
The website for the WPA-L (Writing Program Administration) mailing list. From here you can subscribe, unsubscribe or review past messages.
Arizona State University. Resources>Mailing Lists>WPA>Education
