Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping technical communication, necessitating strategies to assess its impact. This article introduces a framework combining human-in-the-loop automation with a task-based approach for communication roles. Effective AI integration requires identifying and organizing key writing tasks to fit into automated workflows. The framework underscores the value of writing expertise and offers practical guidance for practitioners, scholars, and educators. By aligning AI tools with technical communication tasks, professionals can produce accurate and complex communication products. This approach highlights the essential role of human expertise in effective, AI-assisted writing.

Background: Technical and professional communication and user experience (UX) have become intertwined as sister disciplines. Graduates of technical communication programs are pursuing jobs in UX and researchers in technical communication are studying UX. Literature review: At the same time, little attention has been paid to the skills required for jobs such as UX designer and UX researcher, though one landmark study a decade ago was the first to detail such trends. Research questions: 1. What language do employers use to explain UX job skills? 2. What specific job titles do employers describe when advertising UX positions to potential applicants? Research methodology: As part of an ongoing research project examining nearly 15,000 job ads from the US, in this article, we will analyze a corpus of UX job ads for trends including specific roles that are emerging within UX as definable occupations. We do so by identifying trends in keyword usage across job ads, as well as zeroing in on skill sets that seem important to employers looking to hire UX professionals. Results/discussion: Our findings extend previous research to detail stronger differentiation between the skill sets required of UX designers and UX researchers, as well as revealing new roles previously unexamined in past literature. Conclusions: Several new skill sets emerging in UX are important to introduce to students, including new visual design tools, product design skills, and project management skills. We owe it to our students to continue to track skills that emerge in this fast-moving field.

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</b> Constructivism is a prevalent theory in technical and professional communication (TPC) pedagogy that extends to various aspects of learning, including textbook design. This study considers the way that learners interact with textbooks and how incorporating constructivist design elements is important for both instructors and students. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Literature review:</b> Previous research has highlighted the importance of textbook design in facilitating learning and the ways that textbooks reflect ideology. However, there is limited literature on the role of constructivist principles in textbook design and their impact on learners and faculty. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research questions:</b> 1. What design elements in textbooks align with a constructivist pedagogy? 2. To what extent do textbooks in TPC follow a constructivist design? 3. Do students and faculty prefer constructivist designs? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research methodology:</b> The study employed a heuristic review using a novel heuristic, the Constructivist Textbook Rubric, to evaluate a sample of eight technical communication textbooks. Following this, comparative usability testing was conducted with both professors and students to assess preferences and learning outcomes. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results:</b> The study resulted in the development of a comprehensive tool for evaluating textbooks based on alignment with constructivist design principles and learning theory. Both the heuristic review and user testing demonstrated advantages associated with textbooks that incorporated constructivist elements in their design. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Conclusion:</b> The findings suggest that textbooks designed with constructivist principles can improve learning outcomes for both learners and faculty. By using the Constructivist Textbook Rubric, college instructors can make informed decisions when selecting textbooks, ultimately benefiting learners through enhanced information synthesis and retention.

Understanding the expectations of employers contributes to the relevancy of business and professional communication (BPC) courses. Studies that bridge the gap between course content and workplace expectations support this process. This article presents findings from a scale development procedure to analyze BPC skills using a multimodal perspective. Employers ( N = 260) were asked what skills they perceive to be communication and how proficient they expect a recent college graduate to be to better understand the expectations that graduates face when entering the job market. The findings have implications for course design, curriculum selection, and program organization.

Discussions about communication and education have become focused on social justice in recent years, and with good reason. Social justice is at the forefront of many aspects of our daily lives in news, education, and even entertainment. As digital rhetoricians and educators, we have found ourselves looking for ways to work at the intersections of our field and social justice to improve both learning experiences and networked communication in non-academic contexts. This work is both timely and needed, as the hierarchies and inequities experienced in "real life" often translate to, and are amplified by, networked and digital forms of engagement. Fortunately, Rhetoric, Technology, and the Virtues offers an insightful and practical discussion about ethical frameworks that contribute to our understanding of digital social justice. Colton and Holmes persuasively argue for the value of Aristotle's virtue ethics, especially the idea of hexis , as a model for empowering students, educators, and others to enact digital social justice. As they explain, Aristotle identified virtues "such as patience, courage, temperance, and liberality" that contribute to ethical behavior and "are developed not solely through reason or by learning rules but through practice of the emotional and social skills that enable us within a community to work toward...human flourishing and general well-being" (p. 32). An essential part of Aristotle's framework is hexis , a person's disposition that has been crafted through habit and repeated practice (p. 11). Colton and Holmes effectively demonstrate how a virtue ethics framework can empower individuals to take ownership of the ethical implications of digital practices. Throughout the book, Colton and Holmes address familiar topics in digital rhetoric ranging from captioning (pp. 3--5, 49--73), remixing (pp. 74--94), and issues inherent in online activism (pp. 95--126).