While the data part of this project is called TechComm Programmatic Central, the actual title of the book-length manuscript in progress is: Programmatic imaginations through a curricular history of technical and professional communication.
This project is a longitudinal study that has examined programs in technical and professional communication (TPC) over the last (yikes) ~15 years. Gathering together what has become the most comprehensive data set ever collected, it focuses on a curricular view at the field-wide level by taking into account the field’s curricular history as well as its current make-up. This project extends and updates some of my published research. More so, it brings together all the data into one place along with some practical tools for administrators and faculty who want to start, update, build, and/or sustain programs in TPC. For example, there is a program inclusion audit.
These are a series of maps that display TPC degree programs at US institutions. The maps are updated to the most recent data that the full book ms. is based on. A snippet of the method/ology is included on the maps page to place the data its context.
All the data has been verified in Fall, 2023, and I’m working now on an updated analysis of it. Though, just contact me if you have a programmatic question and I’m happy to send you what I have.
But until then, here are some of what this project covers: 712 degree programs at 339 institutions:
- 105 Master’s degrees
- 52 graduate certificates
- 123 Bachelor’s degrees in TPC
- 132 Bachelor’s degrees with an emphasis in TPC
- 3 Associate’s degrees
- 97 undergraduate certificates
- 200 minors
And for each of these degree programs, I have gathered
- degree names, departments, and institutions
- curricular requirements
- # of hours
- online or on-site
- # of required courses
- cumulative experiences (e.g., capstone courses)
- internships as required, optional or neither
- courses (6740), which includes
- course titles
- course descriptions
- coded as required or other
All of this data is coded in a way so that we can see field wide things. This is how I know that the editing course is (still) the most common course in curricula. This is how I can tell you that 24% of degree programs in TPC are offered fully online. This is how if you asked what institution offered an intercultural course or a content management course. I can tell you.
Thinking of starting your own TPC degree program but want to do a comparison of other programs, well, just ask and I can tell you who offers a program in your state or who is a good “peer program” to look at based on institutional type or programmatic foundation. Based on data and related interviews, I have created some question sheets and exemplar program information, and I encourage any program to consistently invoke the continuous improvement model that Joanna Schreiber and I created specifically for higher education, called GRAM.
I’ve also updated the work I did with Sally Henschel to create a theory of TPC domains of knowledges and skills. In writing studies, there have been several models put forward, but they are all theoretical without any specific data or institutional cases to test the models. The model I’ve created is based on field-wide data so the starting point for it has already in some ways been proven. But by creating a construct model that can be used as part of GRAM, TPC is afforded a sophisticated approach to programmatic work. The chapter in the book gives much, much more details but it’s a rather innovative and important part of the evolution of equitable program design.
If you’re interested in anything programmatic, feel free to contact me. I share data all the time because multiple perspectives is a way to make TPC stronger.
Fingers crossed, y’all will be able to use and reference this sometime in 2024!