[ATTW-L] Dissertation Research: Social Justice in TPC Course Design Focus Groups

[Julie Christen]

Dear colleagues in Technical and Professional Communication,



My name is Julie Christen and I am a doctoral candidate at University of
Arizona. I am conducting dissertation research on course design and
revision practices of TPC instructors who are committed to social justice
in their courses. My project, "Teaching Social Justice in Technical and
Professional Communication: Instructor Experience with Course Design and
Delivery" is interested in how instructors design (or revise) their courses
to incorporate social justice aims, including what kind of departmental or
institutional support instructors receive, how instructors document and
incorporate student feedback in their course designs, and how much labor
goes into these efforts.



This research builds on a preliminary survey that went out to ATTW in
August on language-setting for social justice work in teaching TPC. Based
on those responses, I offer the following working definition of social
justice in these contexts. Social justice efforts are interested in equity,
inclusion, and accessibility and are especially defined by taking action
against injustices. Injustices can include (but are not limited to) racism,
sexism, environmental exploitation of land and people, white language
supremacy, economic exploitation, and discrimination based on ability.
Thank you to all who contributed through the survey.



*Participation in this project consists of four (4) one-hour focus groups
with five participants every two weeks in October and November 2021.*
*Participants
will be compensated $25 per focus group ($100 for the full set)*. If
participants choose to continue to Spring 2022, they can also participate
in 4 more focus groups that will take place monthly January-April.



Fall focus groups will include discussion of institutional contexts and
common course design practices, as well as sharing course materials, all in
an effort to co-design a template to document and reflect on course design
and delivery practices. Spring focus groups will involve revising and
testing a draft of this template, and additional recruitment for those
focus groups will take place in late November and early December.



Anyone who has taught and/or designed a TPC course with a social justice
focus in the past two years is eligible to participate. If you are
interested in participating in this project, I've linked a recruitment
survey below that should take no more than 10 minutes of your time. I'd
like to begin scheduling focus groups by October 8th.



https://uarizona.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d0Qsqhw9NxJRA34



Finally, I'd like to include perspectives of technical and professional
communication instructors, including those who teach in academic settings
and those who may teach outside formal academic settings, such as trainers
who work in industry or community settings, and mentors of technical
communicators, so please feel free to share with your networks.



This project has been approved by University of Arizona's Institutional
Review Board (IRB protocol: STUDY00000038).



Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Please contact me
directly (juliechristen at arizona.edu) if you have any questions or concerns.



Julie

-- 
*Julie Christen* (she/her)
PhD Candidate | Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English
<https://english.arizona.edu/rcte>
Graduate Associate | General Education Refresh
<https://provost.arizona.edu/content/general-ed-refresh>
Instructor | Professional & Technical Writing
<https://english.arizona.edu/bachelor-arts-%E2%80%93-professional-and-technical-writing>
University of Arizona
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