#19085
The 21-Course Undergraduate Program: Strength Through Diversification 
How can diversification strengthen a professional communication program? By capitalizing on faculty backgrounds, a broad variety of courses, and student experience. Here’s how that combination of factors works in the 21-course undergraduate major in professional writing at the University of Houston-Downtown.
Jennings, Ann S. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>Undergraduate
#22211
Accessible Information Architecture: Participatory Curricular Design 
This presentation describes the process of engaged negotiation that re-engineered an inappropriate course design to one that met student needs.
Salvo, Michael J. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Information Design>Participatory Design
#23379
Across the Great Divide: Embedding Technical Communication into an Engineering Curriculum
The University of Maine has begun a multi-year effort to redesign the way it teaches technical communication to students in the College of Engineering. At its core, this new design will mean replacing the existing requirement of a stand alone course in technical communication.
Adams, David. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Engineering
#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
#21816
An Alternative to a Master's Program 
Discussions concerning the structure of technical communication programs raise a multitude of questions: how do we include both theory and practice? How much theory is appropriate for a program in an applied area? What do our students need and want? How can we meet our students’ needs and ourown academic goals? These questions can become even more intense when they relate to master’s degree programs and the demanding students they attract. We are faced with decisions about what thenature of a master’s program in technical communication should be.
Allen, Nancy J. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Graduate
#19083
Assessing Existing Engineering Communication Programs: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Study
Increased support for greater accountability and assessment of engineering communication programs have led many schools of engineering and technology to initiate methods of assessing the quality of their students’ engineering communication abilities. In my institution, I have spearheaded the pilot year of such a program, and, as anticipated, have learned several valuable lessons that may be of interest to others interested in developing assessment procedures for engineering communication programs.
Rush Hovde, Marjorie. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>Engineering>Assessment
#23377
A Behavioral Framework for Assessing Graduate Technical Communication Programs
Behavioral science, with its emphasis on association, reliability, and validity provides a promising set of models upon which to enhance further work in scientific and technical communication. Our proposed model is based on the five independent variables that, when constructed validly and measured reliably, may be associated with effective programs in technical and scientific communication.
Coppola, Nancy W. and Norbert Elliott. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Assessment
#20493
The field of technical communication is in many ways inscribed by technology. As a result, technical communication programs not only must provide students with a foundation in the theory and practice of the field, but also must give students some level of proficiency in the technology tools they will need to put that knowledge into service in the workplace.
Brumberger, Eva R. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Software
#22190
Border? What Border? Documents are Interfaces
Documents are interfaces. In situations where documents help us do tasks - whether simple or complex - they look and act like software interfaces. Academics in technical communication are in the business of helping people learn to design, build, analyze, and assess these interfaces. Yet, only occasionally do we admit this responsibility. Judging from our curricula, our research journals, and our textbooks, we still view this responsibility as somehow distinct from what we do to teach 'technical writing,' 'technical editing,' or 'document design.' It isn't.
Hart-Davidson, William. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>User Interface>Theory
#22210
Bridges Across Many Borders: The Eastern Michigan University Write-Link Project
In recent years, our field has been seeking ways to build bridges and to partner with technical communication programs in community colleges, practitioners in industry, and our colleagues in other areas of writing. Many in our field have also been incorporating community service into their pedagogy. Another focus has been to reach out to high schools in order to connect with students who represent the future of the profession. We all recognize the benefits to be gained from such partnerships and projects.
Blakeslee, Ann M. and Jay Steichmann. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Service Learning
#21561
Building a Community of Professional Communicators by Mapping Needs and Assets
For an institution with a regional focus, part of program building involves identifying resources in the region the program serves. This effort can be complicated in regions that generally lack the kind of high-tech industry that draws technical communicators. One cannot easily find a ready-madecommunity of professional communicators in such places, leaving some to wonder whether a professional writing program would be able to thrive. Nevertheless, communicators are ubiquitous, even if most of them don’t identify themselves as such.
Blythe, Stuart. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Community Building
#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
#23365
Can Academic Partnerships in Technical Communication Work?: Lessons from Minnesota
Interuniversity partnerships are widely encouraged as a way for public universities to pool increasingly scarce resources, to minimize duplication of academic programs, and to cooperate rather than compete. Joint programs in technical communication have not been widely studied, but they seem especially logical for several reasons.
Black, Suzanne. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Management>Collaboration
#19069
A Case for Adopting an Integrated Approach to Program Development
In the last few years, both scholars and practitioners have considered the place of technical communications in relation to new information technologies. Most in the field agree that technical communicators bring a broad base of expertise, along with the ability to make a wide range of contributions to this realm. However, technical communicators still question the impact they might have and the roles and functions they might adopt in this area. In addition, they are still often plagued by an identity crisis brought on by a lack of recognition from other fields.
Blakeslee, Ann M. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>TC>Crisis Communication
#19105
In what significant and distinctive ways is writing enmeshed in the professional sites our students will enter after graduation (or earlier, if they work as interns in such sites prior to graduation)? How can we distinguish between general, transportable aspects of writing expertise that can be developed in school and later applied effectively in a range of different workplaces and other, local aspects of writing expertise that are specific to particular professional environments and can only be acquired through on-site experience once there?
Smart, Graham. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Education>Workplace
#21818
Programs in technical and scientific communication educate students from multiple disciplines. As we teach these students from various fields, we often assume they will write to others who are members of the same field. However, professionals commonly communicate across disciplinary boundaries and collaborate with those who do not necessarily belong to their field. We should rethink our approaches in teaching scientific and technical communication to consider how different peoplefrom different areas of expertise engage one another in a communication situation. Based on the understanding that different disciplinary cultures and languages alter contexts for communication, astudy examining how experts from science, engineering, mathematics, and architecture come together as a single group and collaboratively invent discourse can contribute to new knowledge to inform curriculum development.
Gooch, John C. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Risk Communication>Collaboration
#23364
Communication Patterns Between Organizations: Implications for the Classroom
Because many corporations now outsource significant portions of their business to external companies, it is important to study and understand the role of writing and, more generally, differing communication structures between organizations. In my experience, this is not a topic that is discussed in most technical communication classrooms.
McCord, Michael. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Communication>Collaboration
#19064
While most academics are familiar with strategic planning (at least at a broad institutional level), many may be unfamiliar with the process of compact planning--a more narrowly focused, resource-driven planning model that can help programs identify and reach short-term goals. Because of the technological components of technical communication programs and the rapidity with which those components change and, consequently, affect our programs, shorter-term planning models may be particularly useful in helping our programs remain nimble, competitive, and distinctive. Further, since the compact planning process is a grass-roots initiative (rather than a top-down planning model), it is particularly effective at the program and department levels for its inclusionary properties.
Allen, Jo. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>TC
#22212
The particular concern facing my institution of affiliation (U Houston-Downtown) is how to maintain prudent Technical Communication (TC) program expansion in the face of rapid growth, high demand, and scarce resources.
Hundleby, Margaret N. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC
#10055
The Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication
The Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication (CPTSC) has five goals: promote programs in technical and scientific communication, promote research in technical and scientific communication, develop opportunities for the exchange of ideas and information concerning programs, research, and career opportunities, assist in the development and evaluation of new programs in technical and scientific communication, if requested, and promote exchange of information between this organization and interested parties.
#19066
Our discussion will consider the ways in which we conceptualized an engineering enterprise initiative’s 'communication component,' alternate ways in which it could be conceptualized, and our efforts to maintain pedagogical and programmatic integrity while addressing the very practical needs of this ABET-driven curricula change. We feel that these questions must be addressed if we are to truly participate in a 'systemic change' in engineering education and its integral communication challenges.
Aller, Betsy and M. Sean Clancey. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>Assessment>Engineering
#22194
Should institutional boundaries prevent online students from learning from the best professors available? What is the effect of employing remote professors on a program's identity, and how do remote or distant professors fit into a faculty's programmatic and pedagogical profile?
Cargile Cook, Kelli. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Online
#23380
Crossing the Boundaries of Instruction: Assessing Web-Based Courses
We recently conducted survey research to discover students' responses to our web-based courses and online programs. We wanted to know their reactions to the course materials, teaching methods, interactions with faculty and other students, as well as their own competence in the particular subject area following such as course. While we are discovering that students are generally satisfied with all aspects of the courses, they express valid and noteworthy concerns.
Tovey, Janice and Michelle F. Eble. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Assessment>Online
#19088
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
#21562
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
