Technical Communication
Curriculum:
Intro to Tech Comm (one day)
Greg Eller*
A one-day overview of careers in Technical Communications. Guest speakers will discuss various areas of the Tech Communication profession. Students will also have the opportunity to meet other fellow participants with whom they will be spending the next eight months. An overview of the program will be discussed, as well as expectations and requirements for completion.
Essential Skills Course (four weeks)
Susan Dakin
In this review of advanced writing and editing skills essential for all technical communicators, students will practice recognizing and solving the most common problems in technical writing, illustrated in sentences drawn from real-world technical and business documents.
Technical Writing Workshop (six weeks)
Jim Sheedy
Working individually or in small groups, students will contribute to class projects that are derived from their own interests and those of classmates. Students will work on projects at home and critique the projects during our weekly sessions. Students will learn how to sift through the details of their research to find the content that meets their reader's needs and their own writing objectives.
Information Architecture (five weeks)
This hands-on class provides strategies for analyzing, categorizing, and "chunking" information - the cutting edge of information structuring.
Managing the Information Development Process (six weeks)
Larry Kunz
Students will learn, and put into practice, the process for developing technical information from initial planning to final distribution. We will cover the best ways to plan, schedule, budget, track, and report status from a one-person project to a large team effort. We will also discuss new trends that are changing the process and the profession.
Tools Overview (four weeks)
Robert Perry
This course will provide an overview of the most commonly used technical communication tools and how to select the best tools for a successful project.
Final Project Capstone Course (five weeks)
Taking all the skills learned throughout the program, students will complete a final written project that will be reviewed by a small panel of instructors.
*More information about each instructor can be found on the "Instructor" page.