Ginny Critcher and Justin Darley had a meeting with Ian Kemble of Portsmouth University this week, to discuss their new MA in Technical Communication and areas where we might help them.
One of the topics that came up was whether or not they should include technology related topics. On the one hand, you can argue that technology gets out of date very quickly, on the other you could argue that you’re unlikely to get work if you don’t know the tools of the trade.
Last week Ellis Pratt heard Thomas Power and Dr. Gerry Lemberg (of the London Business School) both claim that the concept of a job (i.e being an employee) will pretty much end in our life times. If so, the education system will need to change considerably in order to prepare students for the real world. Are they right?
What I found interesting when I attended university to do a Computer and Management Degree (over 15 years ago) is that the coding languages and OS’s we were taught were different to those used in industry a few years later. However, we had picked up some sort of transitional knowledge that we could then apply to the new tools and environments.
So if we were to teach people about today’s tools and environments in a way that the knowledge could be later adapted by the student, I think that is (and maybe will always be) valid.
As a Tech Pubs Manager I have recently been ploughing through articles to pick up ideas for the future. But will I use them in the way the articles’ authors intended? Yes and no… I will more likely adapt them in some way. I think it’s all about adapting what we know and can learn to fit the current situation.
Best wishes,
James Lawrence.
Sure the eduction in IT has improved in the last 15years.
Check out this introduction article on Technical communication:
Technical_communication
Content:
1.Professions
2.Formats
3.Tools
4.Resources