Curricular Efforts in Technical Communication After the Social Justice Turn

Abstract

The social justice turn in technical and professional communication (TPC) has inspired a substantial body of progressive scholarship and discussion. But it is not clear how these scholarly efforts have shaped (or are shaping) programmatic and curricular efforts. This article reports the findings of a survey of TPC instructors and an analysis of 231 TPC programs to examine their curricular efforts toward social justice. Drawing from the mixed findings, the authors argue that vigorous curricular efforts in social justice enable TPC to fully and practically demonstrate the core mandate of our discipline.

Peer-Led Professional Development: How One Technical Communication Team Learns on the Job

“…Other research found that students entering the workplace have knowledge gaps in business operations, problem-solving in industry, and project management (Stanton, 2017; Whiteside, 2003; Wilson & Ford, 2003). Some of these topics are not central to university pedagogies because it takes time for university curricula to integrate research focuses into pedagogy (Agboka & Dorpenyo, 2022; Dubinsky & Getchell, 2021). And areas such as business operation practices and the intricacies of industry problem solving would always be difficult to fully integrate into university curricula, given the diversity of TPC workplaces and the fast-paced changes in industry.…”