Instructional Design

From July 2021 through May 2022 I completed a major curriculum development project for University of Washington (UW). The UW Extension engaged with me to fully revise the Professional Technical Writing (PTW) certificate's curriculum. This update includes both classroom and synchronous online delivery sections of the program. To accommodate expected growth in the program and corresponding instructor pool, the updated program curriculum was designed to gracefully scale up  as new instructors are onboarded.

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 The initial focus areas of analysis included:

• Inventories of the legacy program's rubrics, assessments, and learning outcomes

• Past student feedback as captured in course evaluations 

• Qualitative attitudinal interviews with program alums

• Needs analysis with PTW Technical Advisory Board members

• Quantitative research across top industries that employ technical communicators

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The updated program curriculum shown below is a scaffolded sequence of foundational, intermediate, and advanced skills courses. The curriculum increases student proficiency and develops their skills as self-regulated learners. Each course is 10 weeks in duration, and each week includes a three-hour class session.

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A major focus of the updated curriculum was to develop authentic assessments that linked to learning objectives and core competencies across all three courses, resulting in a consistent user experience.

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The updated program curriculum received extensive review and validation from UW staff. I delivered the first updated courses beginning January 2022 and was joined by newly onboarded instructors by April 2022. Initial student feedback and skills evaluations are positive, and the PTW program is built for iterative refinement going forward.