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STC Education Committee
Goals and Objectives for 2002-2003 (and Beyond)
Priority Statement: The Education Committee has lost a number of
active members, and others have committed a significant part of their efforts to
Chapter-level officerships. Accordingly, the committee will focus on its top-priority
objectives in 2002-2003, deferring other objectives to subsequent years as necessary.
The top priorities are beta-testing the materials developed on the STC-funded
research project in the 7th Annual Florida High School Technical Writing Competition,
sustaining our momentum on the high school competition and the Pellegrin scholarships,
supporting the professional development of chapter members, expanding our
instructional outreach into the classroom, and increasing the number of student
applications for the Pellegrin scholarship.
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Overall Goals |
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- Develop beta versions of turnkey multimedia presentations on technical communication
(informational) and the high school competition (promotional) and use the materials in
the 7th Annual Florida High School Technical Writing Competition.
- Sustain the high school technical writing competition and lay the groundwork for
possible addition of an online category and possible expansion of the contest to other
Florida chapters in 2003-2004.
- Support the local educational community in improving classroom instruction of writing.
- Support the Society's strategic goals and objectives on educational outreach.
- Continue the Melissa Pellegrin Memorial Scholarship program at UCF.
- Support educational and professional development for Orlando Chapter members.
- Survey interest in instituting a mentoring program pairing UCF students with
chapter members and, if interest so indicates, develop and implement such a program.
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Specific Objectives |
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Scholarship Program
- Continue long-term capital investment to maintain and build the Melissa
Pellegrin Memorial Scholarship Fund as a self-sustaining endowment that will
pay for scholarships in the future.
- Distribute informational flyer to honor Melissa's memory and to support
fund-raising for the endowment fund that bears her name at UCF.
- Continue to provide undergraduate and graduate Pellegrin scholarships to
outstanding technical communication majors at UCF.
- Increase efforts to promote scholarships at UCF; avoid a repetition of the
"no award" situation due to zero entries for the graduate scholarship in 2002.
High School Competition |
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- Continue the high school technical writing competition in Central Florida, extending
the breadth in number of schools participating.
- Develop beta versions of turnkey multimedia presentations on technical
communication (informational) and the high school competition (promotional) and use
the materials in the 7th Annual Florida High School Technical Writing Competition.
- Conduct sufficient classroom visits to sustain and build the competition as well
as to usability-test the new materials. Draw upon chapter members as well as
Education Committee members to achieve this vital objective.
- Hold and augment the existing base in Seminole County, reestablish our base in
Orange County, and establish beach-heads in Volusia, Osceola, and Brevard.
- Lay the groundwork to expand the competition into a state-wide event (phased
growth over multiyear period beginning in 2003-2004) by working with other STC Chapters
in Florida.
- Develop guidelines and judging criteria to support addition of an online category
to the competition in 2003-2004.
- Revitalize industry patronage of the competition by more aggressively pursuing
corporate sponsorships.
- Apply for a Society grant in Spring '03 to support further growth of the high
school competition in 2003-04 and the addition of an online category.
- Increase the level of publicity on the high school competition, especially within
the chapter membership.
Instructional Outreach to Support Local Educational Community in Teaching Writing |
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- High Schools:
- Provide expert assistance to the area high school English teachers as they
implement secondary-level technical communication courses, on a demand basis.
- Visit area middle schools, high schools, and colleges in response to instructor
requests to make presentations on technical communication to students.
- Given the opportunity, reenergize our support to the Orange County Schools
initiative to improve writing instruction in vocational programs by providing
inservice training in technical writing to instructors.
- Make contact with the Orange County Chapter of the National Council of Teachers
of English regarding its next annual conference and, if appropriate, participate.
- Expand the teacher training effort into other counties (e.g., Seminole,
Volusia, Osceola)
- Colleges:
- Make presentations relating to technical communication to classes at UCF and
other colleges/universities
- In so doing, promote the Pellegrin scholarships at UCF
Support to the Society's Educational Outreach Initiative |
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- Successfully execute the Society-sponsored grant project and revitalize the classroom
visit initiative as described above.
- Work with the Society's Strategic Planning and Vision Committee to develop/refine
specific objectives, strategies, and tactics in support of educational outreach.
Support to the Educational and Professional Development of Chapter Members |
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- Continue the tradition of potpourri-style, panel-forum chapter meetings
("Washlines VIII") presenting lessons learned at the 49th Annual Conference in Nashville,
in August 2002.
- Post notes from the 49th Conference on the Education Committee Web page.
- Post professional development materials periodically on the Orlando Chapter listserv.
- Support chapter officers in developing and implementing a suitable professional
development activity to replace the annual Trends conference that was discontinued
in 2000 (e.g., Saturday "mini-conferences").
- Investigate the acquisition of reusable assets for the chapter (e.g., building
a library of books, CD ROMs, videotapes, shareware). Report results and make
recommendations to the Administrative Council. If so directed, implement.
- Publicize the annual undergraduate and graduate scholarships from the Society for which
Chapter members may apply.
Mentoring |
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- Work with UCF and within the Chapter to determine interest in and feasibility
of establishing a formal mentoring program pairing UCF students, as well as
entry-level technical communicators, with expert practitioners within the
Chapter membership.
- Given interest, establish guidelines and procedures to govern the mentoring
program and orient both mentors and mentees in those procedures in kicking off the program.
- Continue to promote the academic growth of technical writing students
(e.g., granting interviews for technical writing projects, addressing technical
writing classes, critiquing student portfolios).
- Work towards a career forum for a select audience of high school students with
an aptitude and interest in technical communication (use above items to
leverage this objective).
- Continue to assist other STC chapters concerning the roles, objectives, and
strategies of the Education Committee (make our Web page a benchmark for others to model).
Communications and Publicity |
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- Work jointly with the Administrative Council, the newsletter editor, and the
Chapter Web site administrator to publicize and promote committee activities (e.g.,
awards and scholarship presentations, the high school competition, fund-raising
for the scholarship fund) within the Chapter and the Society. Provide regular news
updates and periodic in-depth articles on committee activities to the chapter
newsletter and the chapter listserv.
- Continue to maintain and administer the Education Committee portion of the Chapter
Web site, in anticipation of rapidly increasing requirements and throughput rate as
well as tight schedules.
- Send out press releases on scholarships and high school contest awards to the
Orlando Sentinel, to college and high school newspapers, and to other media
as appropriate.
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