ENG 518: Publications Management for Technical Communication
Spring, 2009
TH 7:30 T109

Management is thus what tradition used to call a liberal art--"liberal because it deals with the fundamentals of knowledge, self-knowledge, wisdom, and leadership; "art" because it is also concerned with practice and application. Theodore Drucker, 2001.

Welcome...

This course prepares technical communication students and practitioners for the concepts, responsibilities, and tasks that they will need to manage in a technical communicaiton environment. It follows a dual path, covering the complex project management responsibilities and the equally difficult personnel management issues associated with leading a successful technical communication team.

This course is part of the English M. S. program in Technical Communication. It is intended to be a follow-up and natural extension of ENG 517. The course assumes that students have completed ENG 517 or that they have equivalent workplace experience.

Enrollment is limited to graduate students and advanced juniors and seniors. It is also open to Post-Baccalaureate Studies students and Lifelong Education students.

Course Texts:

Dicks, R. Stanley. Management Principles and Practices for Technical Communicators (ISBN 0-321-16523-3), Pearson-Longman Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical Communication, 2004. Available for $68 directly from the publisher at http://www.ablongman.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0321165233,00.html. Available used and discounted from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Hackos, JoAnn T. Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People (ISBN-10: 0-471-77711-0), Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2007. Price: $50 but available from Amazon for $42.30 and Barnes & Noble for $45.00.

Assigned readings, distributed in class.

Course Objectives:

  • You will learn how to develop an overall management philosophy and how to use management problem-solving skills in a variety of situations.
  • You will learn comprehensive project management skills as they apply to technical communication environments.
  • You will develop skills for personnel management, including hiring, training, evaluating, and motivating technical communicators.
  • You will learn how to balance increasing your knowledge of management principles and technical abilities, and how to develop a plan for doing so.
  • You will learn project budgeting and cost-reduction techniques, including the use of subcontracting, outsourcing, and other techniques.
  • You will learn how to build quality improvement techniques into publications projects, including effective group problem solving, user surveys, usability testing, and field testing.
  • You will understand the ethical and legal questions that face technical communication managers.
  • You will learn how to use computers to accomplish management tasks and to develop and deliver technical communication products.

 

Policies:

  • You are expected to attend class and to participate in class discussions. If you must miss class for valid reasons, you are responsible for getting (from a classmate) the material you missed. Ten percent of the final grade comes from class participation; if you are not here, you are not participating. University attendance regulaltions are described at www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/courses_undergrad/REG02.20.3.php.
  • Students are expected to abide by the academic integrity standards described in the Code of Student Conduct Policy (POL11.35.1).
  • Major writing assignments must be produced electronically. The Humanities Computing Laboratories (113A Tompkins and 118 Winston) contain the necessary hardware and software to complete the assignments for this course. If you have access to other computers, feel free to use them.
  • Writing assignments, except for the daily readings, should be submitted in a manila file folder that contains two copies of the assignment, plus all of the previous drafts, revisions, outlines, and copies of the original sources.
  • You must complete every assignment in order to pass the course. In other words, failure to turn in an assignment will not simply be averaged in with your other grades as a zero. The plus/minus grading policy is in effect for this course.
  • All assignments must be submitted on time at the beginning of the class session when they are due; exceptions must be requested in advance and in writing.
  • Late assignments will be graded one letter lower for each class session they are late.
  • Plagiarism (the appropriation of another author's ideas or phrasing without proper attribution) will result in a failing grade for the course.
  • This syllabus may be revised at any time during the course of the semester. Any revisions will be reasonable and be based on class needs. A few additional readings may be added or substituted for currently scheduled readings.
  • This class does not have a final exam.

 

To assure that all students gain as much as possible from this class, every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate studentsí specific needs. If you have a physical, psychological, or learning disability that has been certified by Disabilities Services for Students (1900 Student Health Center, Box 7509, 919/515-7653), please contact me to make whatever arrangements you require. For more information, see the Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation (REG02.20.1).