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> Mainly the fact that in this program there were only two or
> three courses that were actually required for all students in
> the program; the rest were electives that enabled us to focus
> on whatever we were planning to specialize in. The "core" of
> this profession seems negligibly small to me.
>
> If we want to certify on the fact that a technical writer can
> write a doc plan, edit a document, and conduct an interview
> to gain information, then those core courses may suffice, and
> certification won't be a burden to anyone. I thought everyone
> had something a bit more grandiose in mind, though.
> From: Giordano, Connie [mailto:Connie -dot- Giordano -at- FMR -dot- COM]
> I am genuinely confused... If there is a sufficient body of
> knowledge to
> warrant granting a master's degree in technical writing, why
> is this not a
> sufficient knowledge base to consider developing some sort of
> certification?
To keep the perspective, let's not forget, that there's quite
a difference between a Masters in TW and (say) a Master of Science
degree.
Presumably, an MTW (??) has "fill in any undergraduate degree"
as its prerequisite.
By contrast, you probably can't get your MSc on top of a BA in
Romance Literature (at least, not without a lot of additional
undergrad-level science classes).
If this initiative actually proceeds to action, I smell a BIG
grandfather clause. :-)
Again, I can see there being specialist certifications within
the discipline, but only if there turn out to be enough such
specialists to numerically-and-financially support the required
certification machinery (PER specialty). Somebody else did a
fine job of describing what that entails... and it ain't cheap
or trivial.
/kevin
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