Developing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Online Technical Communication Programs: Emerging Frameworks at University of Texas at El Paso

ABSTRACT

This article addresses emerging calls for online education and cross-cultural technical communication training, specifically by outlining and reporting on the development and sustainability of two online programs: the graduate online technical and professional writing certificate and the emerging undergraduate bilingual professional writing certificate at the University of Texas at El Paso. Data presented suggest cultural and linguistic diversity should be embedded and streamlined across all aspects of online technical communication programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital technologies
• intercultural communication
• pedagogical theory

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laura Gonzales

Laura Gonzales is an assistant professor of rhetoric and writing studies in the Department of English at the University of Texas, El Paso. Her research focuses on intersections of technical communication, translation, and community activism. She is the recipient of the 2016 Sweetland/UM Digital Rhetoric Collaborative Book Prize for her monograph, Sites of Translation: What Multilinguals Can Teach Us about Writing, Rhetoric and Technology. Dr. Gonzales has published work in Technical Communication, Composition Forum, and College Composition and Communication. She is also a technical translator for the Language Services Department at the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan in Grand Rapids, MI.

Isabel Baca

Isabel Baca is an associate professor of rhetoric and writing studies in the Department of English at the University of Texas, El Paso. Her scholarly areas of interest center on community writing, service-learning, and bilingual workplace communication. She created and directs the Community Writing Partners Program within the rhetoric and writing studies program, collaborating with more than 30 nonprofit organizations on both sides of the U.S.–México border. Dr. Baca’s publications include her edited collection, Service-Learning and Writing: Paving the Way for Literacy(ies) through Community Engagement (2012), as well as various chapters and journal articles on community-based writing and service-learning.