Communication Design Quarterly Jan 2019 Open Access

Responsive curriculum change: going beyond occupation demands

Teena A. M. Carnegie Eastern Washington University ; Kate Crane Eastern Washington University

Abstract

This experience report highlights one program's approach to curriculum revision as the program moved from being an emphasis within a literature degree to a B.A. degree in technical communication. The major curriculum was designed by researching state and regional needs for technical communication education in addition to using research already conducted and published in the field. Through an examination of the skills technical communicators needed to be successful in the workplace and how those skills transfer to other related occupations, we were able to build a successful major. The revised curriculum used an interdisciplinary approach to include courses in technical communication, visual design, and public relations. Further, this report discusses the iterative programmatic changes necessary to keep the major current. From alumni interviews and secondary research on changes in technical communication, we continue to reassess the skills students need. As a result our program continues to evolve to equip students with technical communication skills that apply to various, related occupations.

Journal
Communication Design Quarterly
Published
2019-01-22
DOI
10.1145/3309578.3309581
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Open Access
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Topics
revision technical communication
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

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    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  4. Miller et al. (2020)
    Social media in professional, technical, and scientific communication programs:…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  5. Ranade et al. (2020)
    Humanistic communication in information centric workplaces
    Communication Design Quarterly

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CrossRef global citation count: 7 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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