Graduate Certificate in Technical Writing Relaunched

The Graduate Certificate in Technical Writing and Public Rhetorics is being officially relaunched with an updated curriculum and focus this summer as the Graduate Certificate in Technical Writing and User Experience Design.

The program, a 12-hour online asynchronous program of study offered through the U of A Online, is designed for working professionals and students who have at least a bachelor's degree and are looking to focus in professional writing skills or transition into a career in technical and professional writing. As a generalist program, the cerficate is designed to allow students to give themselves a broad foundation in technical and professional writing to support their existing or future career goals.

The program update, the first major update in the program's almost 10-year history, has been a long time coming. As Adam R. Pope, the program director, explained, "The certificate program has been slowly evolving over time as the courses and the relevant research in the field has progressed. Every time the courses have been up for a refresh, design and user experience has become more central to what we do, and this change seemed like the perfect way to canonize the new added focus in the program." 

The certificate now contains a streamlined series of four courses that can completed in a single calendar year for students looking to make a quick professional transition. The fall course (ENGL 5523) focuses on writing for online audiences with a broad focus on social media writing, website content creation, and user experience. The spring course (ENGL 5513) introduces students to document design with industry standard Adobe Creative Cloud applications while also training students in copyediting. In the summer, students are introduced to content strategy and organizational leadership paradigms in ENGL 5503, and in ENGL 5533 they're introduced to the ethics of technical writing and a genre of their choice (academic writing, grants and proposals, content authoring and style). 

The program offers rolling admissions, with students able to start in any semester. There are no prerequisites besides the admission requirements for any given course.

As Pope explained, "Each course is designed to introduce students to an area of proficiency. If they already have a level of proficiency, they can push themselves to their limits, and if they are total newbies, they can focus on building a solid foundation." 

For more information, prospective students can browse the program website or contact the program director, Adam Pope.