Looking Forward to Teaching Technical Communication

This fall, I will teach Technical Communication to undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. I’m trying to crack into the field, and I am excited to share my ideas with other aspiring students.

I took a technical writing course at my undergraduate alma mater, Central Connecticut State University, in my final semester there. I was the only English major out of a sea of engineering and computer science students. I didn’t feel intimidated, but felt I could rise to the occasion, and I did. I liked how my science and technology interests were combined with good writing skills.

When I begin teaching this fall, I will show students how they can take complex ideas and break them down for users of all expertise to understand. I want students to see themselves as authors of meaning, people who can bring their own perspectives to a situation. Their interpretation of how to fix a laptop or describe a technical process will can empower an individual to take action to address a certain problem.

After I visit the Society for Technical Communication’s Summit 2014 in Phoenix, I plan to take some lessons on usability and presenting information to the classroom. It’s important that students see what practitioners are saying about their profession.