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Technical Writing Business and Management
Free Program Overview
ONLINE ONLY
Technical Writing
and Communication
Bring your questions and join us
for this free seminar about our
renowned program for technical
communicators. Learn what usability is and how
it applies to information; what makes information
usable; and how to contribute to your company’s
success by ensuring information usability.
ANDREA L. AMES, M.S.
ONLINE, April 4–May 25.
No fee, but registration required.
To enroll, use Section Number 0469.(017)
Program Coordinator
ANDREA L. AMES, M.S., is a senior technical staff member
(STSM) and information experience
strategist and architect at IBM.
She specializes in user-centered
information usability, strategy,
architecture, and design. Ms.
Ames’ specialty is architecting
and designing information for
software user interfaces—such as labels, embedded
instructional text, and hover help—and making the
interfaces deploying that information as easy to explain as
possible before developing traditional documentation.
She teaches at the university level and is in demand as
a conference speaker internationally. She is a fellow and
past president (2004–05) of the Society for Technical
Communication and a distinguished engineer of the
Association for Computing Machinery.
Required Courses
Final Project: Preparing Your Job Search
BUSAD.X475.7 (1.5 quarter units)
This final course in the Technical Writing and
Communication certificate program prepares students
to secure employment as technical communicators. Each
student develops an industry-appropriate portfolio and
résumé that are tailored to the job market and the type
of job desired. Students also learn how to make the
most of social networks and prepare for interviews.
TIMOTHY BOMBOSCH, Ph.D.
ONLINE, April 5–May 10.
Fee: $630 ($63 discount for early enrollment).
To enroll, use Section Number 6181.(028)
Technical Communication:
An Introduction to the Profession
BUSAD.X472.6 (1.5 quarter units)
This course will help you determine how your skills fit
the field of technical communication. The first half of the
course reviews the history of technical communication,
the top 10 indicators of success, and the roles of technical
communicators in Fortune 500 companies, startups,
government labs, and freelance consulting. The second
half examines the key processes of technical communications,
including information design and development,
user-centered design, and how these key processes
fit into the product or research life cycle. Throughout
the course, you will learn tangible skills, including how
to interview subject-matter experts and users, define
the pieces of an information set, write parts of typical
documentation, and measure the work product.
ANDREA AMES, M.S.
ONLINE, April 4–May 13.
Fee: $630 ($63 discount for early enrollment).
To enroll, use Section Number 5931.(033)
Technical Writers’ Workshop
BUSAD.X469.7 (1.0 quarter unit)
This course is an introduction to creating short technical
documents, such as reports and correspondence.
Through lecture, exercises, reading and homework,
students demonstrate their ability in these areas:
the basics of good writing; formatting of technical
documents; rhetorical modes; clear, grammatically
correct writing at the sentence and paragraph levels;
appropriate styles for a diverse technical audience; and
punctuating technical information. Included are four
writing assignments, which consist of different types of
documents, such as descriptive or instructional reports.
The final project will be portfolio-worthy.
JONATHAN PRICE, D.F.A.
ONLINE, May 17– June 21.
Fee: $580 ($58 discount for early enrollment).
To enroll, use Section Number 2145.(025)
Not unit-specific.
Elective Courses
Graphic Design Fundamentals
For course description, see page 72.
Role of the Project Manager
For course description, see page 81.
XML for the Rest of Us
X481.3 BUSAD (1.0 quarter unit)
In this course, you’ll learn why XML has become a key
standard on the Web, how it changes the way you
write, and how XML tags take your text through a
maze of software between your desk and the user. The
course covers using a parser to monitors the tags you
write and ensure accuracy, check the structure of your
document, and make sure it matches a standard defined
in a Document Type Definition or Schema. You’ll learn
how to author an XML document, start and end a tag,
write names correctly, enter values, and place the actual
content. Through a series of exercises, students learn
to create all the components of an XML document,
including a prolog with an XML declaration, comments
and processing instructions, and a body with elements,
attributes, and entity references. By the end of the
course, you will have several short XML documents, and
one complex XML document, to use in your portfolio.
Prerequisite(s): Programming experience not required.
JONATHAN PRICE, D.F.A.
ONLINE, May 23–June 20.
Fee: $580 ($58 discount for early enrollment)
To enroll, use Section Number 3560.(008)
TECHNICAL WRITING AND COMMUNICATION CERTIFICATE
REQUIRED COURSES units Course F W Sp Su
Technical Communication Fundamentals
Technical Communication: An Introduction to the Profession...1.5...........5931 m m
Grammar and Style for Technical Communicators.................3.0...........4360 m m
Technical Writers’ Workshop..................................................1.0...........2145 m
Writing Successful Instructions, Procedures and Policies.......1.5...........1931 m
Developing Technical Information from Plan to Completion...2.0...........1947 m
Advanced Topics in Communications
Information Architecture and Design Basics..........................1.5...........2662 m
Final Project: Preparing Your Job Search................................1.5...........6181. m
ELECTIVE COURSES (Courses offered this quarter) Units Course F W Sp Su
Content Management............................................................1.0...........6117 m
DITA Authoring Introduction..................................................2.0.........208.30 m m
DITA Information Architecture...............................................1.5.........21971 m
Graphic Design Fundamentals...............................................2.0.........20025 n n
Human Factors for Technical Communicators........................2.0...........0092
m
Managing Technical Documentation Projects........................1.0...........1025
Minimalist Design for Documentation...................................0.5...........3981. m
Role of the Project Manager .................................................1.5...........0306 n p n p
Usability Testing Documentation...........................................2.0...........0684. m
XML for the Rest of Us...........................................................1.0...........3560 m
n held in classroom m offered online p both classroom and online sessions are available
Visit ucsc-extension.edu for the most current program schedule.
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Enroll on our Web site with a credit card. It’s the fastest, easiest way to get started. Visit ucsc-extension.edu.