Outcomes Data: Master of Technical Communication

2020-21   2019-20   2018-19   2017-18   2016-17   

2020-21

For the Master of Technical Communication professional degree, the three key Learning Objectives are:

  • L1: Demonstrate practical technical communication skills
  • L2 Demonstrate understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace activities
  • L3: Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories

Direct Measures

In October 2020, Drs. Avery Edenfield, Keith Grant-Davie, Rebecca Walton, John McLaughlin, Ryan Moeller, and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Erica Leigh of the Technical Communication and Rhetoric Assessment committee met to evaluate the final projects of 13 MTC students in three core courses of our Master of Technical Communication program that were offered last year: five from ENGL 6400 Editing, five from ENGL 6410 Introduction to Technical Communication, and three from ENGL 6830 Introduction to Rhetorical Theory.

Faculty worked in groups of two to evaluate the final projects as low, medium, or high in their demonstration of three learning objectives.

Student

L1:

Demonstrates practical technical communication skills

L2: 

Demonstrates understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace activities

L3: 

Demonstrates an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories
ENLG 6400: Editing

H

L

M

L

I

M

L

H

J

H

M

H

K

H

H

H

N

H

L

L
ENLG 6410: Introduction to Technical Communication

A

M

M

M

B

H

H

H

C

L

H

H

D

L

L

L

E

M

M

M

F

H

H

H
ENGL 6830: Introduction to Rhetorical Theory

O

M

H

M

P

M

L

M

Q

H

H

H

R

H

H

H

S

L

M

H

T

M

M

M

Indirect Measures

Feedback from students about their experiences in the Master of Technical Communication program is generally positive.

2019-20

Direct Measures:

In October 2020, Drs. Avery Edenfield, Keith Grant-Davie, Rebecca Walton, John McLaughlin, Ryan Moeller, and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Erica Leigh of the Technical Communication and Rhetoric Assessment committee met to evaluate the final projects of 13 MTC students in three core courses of our Master of Technical Communication program that were offered last year: five from ENGL 6400 Editing, five from ENGL 6410 Introduction to Technical Communication, and three from ENGL 6830 Introduction to Rhetorical Theory.

Faculty worked in groups of two to evaluate the final projects as low, medium, or high in their demonstration of three learning objectives.

Student 

L1: 

Demonstrate practical technical communications skills

L2:

Demonstrates understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace activities

L3: 

Demonstrates an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories
ENGL 6400: Editing
Student  H                                            

 L 

M

L
Student I

M

L

H
Student J H M H
Student K H H H
Student N

H

L

L
ENGL 6410: Introduction to Technical Communication
Student B M M M
Student C H H H
Student E H H H
Student F M M H
Student G H H M
ENGL 6830: Introduction to Rhetorical Theory
Student MJ M M M
Student HJ M M M
Student JP H H H

Indirect Measures:

Feedback from students about their experiences in the Master of Technical Communication program is generally positive.  

2018-19

Direct Measures:

In February 2019, Jared Colton, Avery Edenfield, Zarah Moeggenberg, John McLaughlin, Rebecca Walton, and Ryan Moeller of the Technical Communication and Rhetoric Assessment committee met to evaluate the final projects of 9 MTC students in the core courses of our Master of Technical Communication program. The work is from ENGL 6410 (Fall 2018), 6830 (Fall 2018), and ENGL 6400 (Spring 2018). Faculty worked in groups of two to evaluate the final projects in light of three learning objectives.

Student 

L1: 

Demonstrate practical technical communications skills

L2:

Demonstrates understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace activities

L3:

Demonstrates an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories
ENGL 6830: Intro to Rhetorical Theory
Student  A                                            

 L 

M

L
Student B

M

H

M
Student C H H M
Student D M H H
Student E

M

H

H
Student F M H H
ENGL 6410: Intro to Tech Comm
Student G M M M
Student H M H H
Student I H H H
Student J M M M
Student K M H H
Student L H H H

Indirect Measures:
Feedback from students about their experiences in the Master of Technical Communication program is generally positive, though many students who are also industry practitioners requested variations of assignments that would more directly relate to their work environments. They also requested more course offerings each semester (including some summer courses) to enable them to finish their degrees more quickly.

2017-18

Direct Measures:

In February 2019, Jared Colton, Avery Edenfield, Zarah Moeggenberg, John McLaughlin, Rebecca Walton, and Ryan Moeller of the Technical Communication and Rhetoric Assessment committee met to evaluate the final projects of 9 MTC students in the core courses of our Master of Technical Communication program. The work is from ENGL 6410 (Fall 2018), 6830 (Fall 2018), and ENGL 6400 (Spring 2018). Faculty worked in groups of two to evaluate the final projects in light of three learning objectives.

Student 

L1: 

Demonstrate practical technical communications skills (student mastery of learning objective—h, m, l)

L2:

Demonstrate understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace practices. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)

L3: 

Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)
ENGL 6400/7400: Editing
Student A               

 H 

H

H
Student B              

M

H

M
Student C M M H
ENGL 6830/7830: Intro to Rhetorical Theory
Student D M M M
Student E

H

H

H
Student F M M H
ENGL 6410/7410: Intro to Tech Comm
Student G M M L
Student H L M M
Student 
I		 M H H

Indirect Measures:
Feedback from students about their experiences in the Master of Technical Communication program is generally positive, though many students who are also industry practitioners requested variations of assignments that would more directly relate to their work environments. When comparing MTC courses to electives, students prefer the MTC courses because of the learning community and because of the more rigorous curriculum. Students continue to request summer courses to allow them to complete their degree more quickly and to spread their courseload more evenly throughout the calendar year.

As described in the Assessment portion of this document, students in the Master of Technical Communication professional program must take 33 credits of approved classes. Below are tables evaluating how students met their learning objectives in classes from Fall 2014-2016. Students are evaluated by their high, medium, or low (H, M, or L) proficiency/mastery of each learning objective.

Please note that the assessment begins in Fall 2014 because this is when the new Director of Graduate Studies took over the position. Previous to this year we do not have hard data for meeting learning objectives in the classes.

Also, several classes have no data available because the instructor has retired. In the future we will make certain to collect this data before faculty leave for retirements or sabbaticals.

2016-17

In November 2017, Jared Colton, Avery Edenfield, Keith Grant-Davie, John McLaughlin, and Ryan Moeller of the Technical Communication and Rhetoric Assessment committee met to evaluate the final projects of 9 MTC students in the core courses of our Master of Technical Communication program. The work is from ENGL 6410 (Fall 2016), 6830 (Fall 2016), and ENGL 6400 (Spring 2017). Faculty worked in groups of two and three to evaluate the final projects in light of three learning objectives (See Assessment B).

Total number of graduate students

L1:

Demonstrate practical technical communications skills (student mastery of learning objective—h, m, l)

L2:

Demonstrate understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace practices. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)

L3: 

Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)
9

H= 6

M= 3

L= 0 

H= 5

M= 4

L= 0

H= 5

M= 2

L= 2

Indirect measures

Feedback from students about their experiences in the Master of Technical Communication program is generally positive. We solicited feedback from students about the program in individual conferences. When comparing MTC courses to electives, students have said that they like our classes better, particularly the community aspect. They also like that we give them some freedom to work on projects related to their own interests in many of our courses. Students have expressed concern that we do not offer enough courses each semester for them to graduate at the pace they desire. Also, some have desired to take summer courses, which we do not currently offer.

B. Outcomes Data from Programs of Study

As described in the Assessment portion of this document (III.B, link here), students’ Programs of Study are monitored closely so as to ensure that students are taking classes that give “high priority” to the two learning objectives. Students must take 33 credits. Starting Summer 2016, students are also permitted to take up to 12 credits in approved ITLS (Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences) courses. For the reason behind this change, see Data-based decision A (link here).

Because several courses are rated “high” in at least two learning objectives, these courses appear under both columns for “Courses taken with high priority.” Those courses that are only high in one objective are bolded in the appropriate column.

Note that certain courses are repeatable for credit (for example, ENGL 6890: Studies in Writing and Rhetoric) if the course topic is significantly different from the earlier course taken. In the table below, courses taken multiple time for credit are indicated with an “x” (for example, “6890 2x” indicates that the course was taken two times for credit.)

Student (identified by letter)

Year of graduation

Note that summer graduates are counted with the previous academic year

Courses taken with High priority for Objective L1 [Demonstrate practical technical communication skills]

6400, 6420, 6430, 6450, 6460, 6470, 6480, 6800, 6860

Courses taken with High priority for Objective L2 [Demonstrate understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace practices]

6400, 6410, 6420, 6440, 6450, 6480, 6800, 6830, 6860

Courses taken with High priority for Objective L3 [Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories.]

6400, 6420, 6440, 6450, 6480, 6830 

# of courses in the 6400 range

# of courses in the 6800 range 

Time to degree 
Student A  2015-16

6400
6420 (2x)
6430
6460
6470 (3x)
(6890)

 6400
6410
6420 (2x)
6830
(6890) 		 6400
6420 (2x)
6830  		  9  2 5 semesters (plus summers)
Student B
 2015-16 6400
6420
6430
6450
6460
6470 (3x)
(6890)          

6400
6410
6420
6450
(6890)

 6400
6420
6450		 10 1 6 semesters (plus summers)
Student C
 2015-16 6400
6420
6430
6450
6470 (2x)
(6890-3x)		 6400
6410
6420
6450
6830
(6890-3x)		 6400
6420
6450
6830 		 8 4 9 semesters (plus summers) (note leave was taken)
Student D
 2015-16  6400
6420
6430
6460 (3x)
6470 (3x)
(6890)		 6400
6410
6450
6830		 6400
6420		  10 1 8 semesters (plus summers) (note leave was taken)
Student E
 2015-16

6400
6420
6430
6450
6460
6470 (2x)
6800
(6890-2x)

 6400
6410
6420
6450
6800
(6890-2x)		 6400
6420
6450		  8  3 5 semesters (plus summers)
Student F  2015-16

6400
6420
6430
6450
6460 (2x)
6470
(6890-2x)

6400
6410
6420
6450
(6890-2x)

 6400
6420
6450		  9  2 4 semesters (plus summers)
Student G  2014-15

6400
6420
6450
6470 (2x)
6800
(6890-3x)

6400
6410
6420
6450
6800
6830
(6890-3x)

 6400
6420
6450
6830		  6  5 4 semesters (plus summers) 
Student H
  2014-15

6400
6420
6450
6460 (2x)
6470 (3x)
(6890-2x)

6400
6410
6420
6450
(6890-2x)

 6400
6420
6450		  8  2 3 semesters (plus summers) 
Student I
  2014-15

6400
6420 (2x)
6430
6450
6470
6480 (6890)

6400
6410
6420 (2x)
6450
6470
6830
(6890)

 6400
6420 (2x)
6450
6480 (6890)
6830		 9  2  7 semesters (dual degree) 
Student J
  2014-15

6400
6420
6450
6470 (2x)
6800
(6890-2x)
(ITLS 6105)

6400
6410
6420
6450
6800
6830
(6890-2x)

 6400
6420
6450
6830		 6  4  4 semesters (plus summers)
Student K
  2014-15

7440 (2x)
7450
7460
7480
(ITLS 6285)

7000
7410
6820
7450
7800
7860
7920

 7440 (2x)
7450
7480		  n/a  n/a PhD student opted to leave with MTC degree
Student L
  2014-15

6400
6420
6430
6450
6470 (2x)
(6890-3x)

6400
6410
6420
6450
6830
(6890-3x)

 6400
6420
6450
6830		 7 4 7 semesters (plus summers)
Student M
  2014-15

6400
6420
6430
6450
6460 (2x)
6470 (3x)
(6890)

 6400
6410
6420
6450
(6890)		 6400
6420
6450		  10  1  5 semesters (plus summers)

Note that summer completions are included with the previous year’s graduation year. (For example, a Summer 2015 graduation would be included with the 2014-2015 data).

Course

Total number of graduate students

L1: 

Demonstrate practical technical communications skills (student mastery of learning objective—h, m, l)

L2:

Demonstrate understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace practices. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)

L3: 

Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)
ENGL 6890 McLaughlin 9

H: 9

M: 0

L: 0


 

H: 9

M: 0

L: 0


 

H: 9

M: 0

L: 0

Fall 2015

Course

Total number of graduate students

L1:

Demonstrate practical technical communications skills (student mastery of learning objective—h, m, l)

L2:

Demonstrate understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace practices. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)

L3:

Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)
ENGL 6410 Walton 7

H= 6

M= 1

L= 0


 

H= 6

M= 1

L= 0

H= 6
M= 1

L= 0
ENGL 6420 Hailey  12

Data not available due to retirement

 

Data not available due to retirement

Data not available due to retirement

ENGL 6470 Hailey

 10 Data not available due to retirement Data not available due to retirement Data not available due to retirement

ENGL 6480 Colton

  3

H= 1

M= 2

L= 0

H= 2

M= 1

L= 0

H= 2

M= 1

L= 0

Summer 2015

Course

Total number of graduate students

L1:

Demonstrate practical technical communications skills (student mastery of learning objective—h, m, l)

L2:

Demonstrate understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace practices. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)

L3:

Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)
ENGL 6470 Walton 11

H: 10

M: 1

L: 0


 

H: 11

M: 0

L: 0

H: 11

M: 0

L: 0

ENGL 6470 McLaughlin

 12

H: 11

M: 1

L: 0

H: 12

M: 0

L: 0

H: 12

M: 0

L: 0

Spring 2015

Course

Total number of graduate students

L1:

Demonstrate practical technical communications skills (student mastery of learning objective—h, m, l)

L2:

Demonstrate understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace practices. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)

L3:

Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)
ENGL 6400
Grant-Davie		 14

H: 12

M: 1

L: 1


 

H: 12

M: 1

L: 1

H: 12

M: 1

L: 1
ENGL 6430 Hailey  13

Data not available due to retirement

 

Data not available due to retirement

Data not available due to retirement

ENGL 6860 Walton

 4

H: 3

M: 1

L: 0

H: 4

M: 0

L: 0

H: 4

M: 0

L: 0

ENGL 6890 Ray

  9 unavailable unavailable  unavailable

Fall 2014

Course

Total number of graduate students

L1:

Demonstrate practical technical communications skills (student mastery of learning objective—h, m, l)

L2:

Demonstrate understanding of theories and scholarship that guide workplace practices. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)

L3:

Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate current workplace practice in relation to scholarly theories. (student mastery of objective—h, m, l)
ENGL 6410 Moeller 11

H: 8

M: 2

L: 1

 

H: 8

M: 2

L: 1 

H: 8

M: 2

L: 1
ENGL 6460 Hailey  8

Data not available due to retirement

 

Data not available due to retirement

Data not available due to retirement

ENGL 6480 McNeill

 11

H: 5

M: 3

L: 3 

H: 7

M: 2

L: 2 

H: 7

M: 2

L: 2 
ENGL 6830 Grant-Davie  10

H: 8

M: 1

L: 1 

H: 8

M: 1

L: 1		  H: 8

M: 1

L: 1