Purpose

The Business and Technical Writing Certificate delivers convenient and concentrated skill development and education in technical writing, providing short-duration writing skills training that will improve students’ communication skills and contribute to employment success.

The need for communicators in the Canadian economy’s technical sectors is growing. Technical communicators include authors, editors, publishers, educators, consultants, business people, computer programmers, engineers, and scientists.

This program will teach students how to adapt complex writing (ie. dealing with business, science, or technology) into language that appeals to general audiences.

Duration

The Business and Technical Writing Certificate consists of nine one-day courses. The Certificate may be completed in 1 to 3 years.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this program, graduates will be able to:

1. Use modern writing skills to create clear, professional communication
2. Organize and write technical documentation according to current standards
3. Describe principles of effective information design
4. Apply principles of good writing and design to an online environment
5. Use editing skills in substantive, copy, and proof edits
6. Carry out necessary steps for managing document projects
7. Compose successful, persuasive proposals
8. Develop effective technical reports
9. Apply standards for helpful manual production and design

Admission Requirements

This certificate is designed to be flexible in meeting the needs of students with a variety of educational backgrounds. The program is targeted towards adults with some writing skills who have completed Grade 12 or equivalent.

Program Requirements

Required Courses

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
TECW 1101	Technical Communication	0.5
TECW 1102	Current Issues Tech Writing	0.5
TECW 1103	Editing	0.5
TECW 1104	Document Project Management	0.5
TECW 1105	Proposal Writing	0.5
TECW 1106	Online Documentation	0.5
TECW 1107	Designing and Writing Manuals	0.5
TECW 1108	Industry Report Writing	0.5
TECW 1110	Info Design & Human Factors	0.5
Total Credits		4.5

This guide is intended as a general guideline only. The college reserves the right to make changes as appropriate.

Evaluation of Student Learning

Students must submit an assignment within two weeks of the session end date. Assignments are designed to build a professional portfolio.

Students who successfully complete their assignment will receive an “S”, indicating satisfactory performance in accordance with departmental evaluation procedures.

In order to receive a Business and Technical Writing Certificate, students must achieve an “S” in all nine required courses.

Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR)

Prior learning assessment and recognition is not available for this program.

Transcript of Achievement

The evaluation of learning outcomes for each student is prepared by the instructor and reported to the Student Records Department at the completion of semesters.

The transcript typically shows a letter grade for each course. The grade point equivalent for a course is obtained from letter grades as follows:

Grading Standard

Transcript of Achievement

Grade	Percentage	Description	Grade Point Equivalency
A+	90-100		4.33
A	85-89		4.00
A-	80-84		3.67
B+	76-79		3.33
B	72-75		3.00
B-	68-71		2.67
C+	64-67		2.33
C	60-63		2.00
C-	55-59		1.67
D	50-54	Minimum Pass	1.00
F	0-49	Failing Grade	0.00
S	70 or greater	Satisfactory – student has met and mastered a clearly defined body of skills and performances to required standards	N/A
U		Unsatisfactory – student has not met and mastered a clearly defined body of skills and performances to required standards	N/A
I		Incomplete	N/A
IP		Course in Progress	N/A
W		Withdrawal	N/A
Course Standings
R		Audit. No Credit	N/A
EX		Exempt. Credit Granted	N/A
TC		Transfer Credit	N/A

Grade Point Average (GPA)

1. The course grade points shall be calculated as the product of the course credit value and the grade value.
2. The GPA shall be calculated by dividing the total number of achieved course grade points by the total number of assigned course credit values. This cumulative GPA shall be determined and stated on the Transcript at the end of each Program level or semester.
3. Grades shall be assigned to repeated courses in the same manner as courses taken only once. For the purpose of GPA calculation of grades for repeated courses, they will be included in the calculation of the cumulative GPA.