Openings on Advisory Committee at Humber College

by Laila De Abreo

Humber College in Toronto offers students the opportunity to earn a Technical Writing Certificate by completing six courses, where many, if not all of them, can be completed online. Compulsory courses include: Introduction to Technical Writing, Print and Online Design, Quality and Production, Principles of Project Management for Technical Writers. For their two elective courses, students can choose from the following: Marketing Technical Writing Services, Technical Editing, Adobe FrameMaker (Basics), or HTML: Introduction. Computer Studies for Technical Writers also offers courses in RoboHelp, JavaScript, and XML, in addition to the FrameMaker and HTML courses.

If you are new to the field, this may seem like the perfect mixture of courses. If you have been in the technical writing field for a while, you may already be thinking, what other areas would be beneficial to new technical writers? If you are in the latter group, then we may need you.

Advisory Committee Members Needed

There is an advisory committee to ensure that the Technical Writing Certificate is meeting the current needs of technical writing students and their potential employers. These members meet two to three times a year to ensure that courses are staying abreast of current trends and changes in employer requirements. Overall, members must make a three-year commitment and be willing to put in about 15 to 20 hours of work per year. Some of that work is on an individual basis and some of it is included in the meetings. Meetings are usually held a night to accommodate members’ schedules.

Qualifications

While this is a volunteer position, you still have to send your resume or CV to apply for a position on the advisory committee. We want to ensure that we have a good mixture of people and that the people we have chosen have backgrounds that make them the best sources of information for our certificate program.

Since each individual is reviewed on his/her own merit, the following are some general guidelines for potential committee members:

• Seven years of technical writing experience or more. You can have fewer years of experience and still be considered for the committee, depending on the range and intensity of experience.
• A range of technical skills or skills in a range of industries..
• A mixture of skills, for example, graphic design, technical writing, marcom writing.
• Experience hiring technical writers.

Benefits

Just as attending an STC meeting or conference enables you to network with people in your field, so too will being on the advisory committee at Humber. Even better, you will be looking at your profession from a different perspective. In addition, since it is a team approach, you also get cross-industry exposure.

If you have ever been in a hiring position and wondered where all the writers are with the skills that you need, then maybe you need to ensure that those are the skills that are being taught to the students who are entering the workforce.

Outside of thinking of what you can get back from this experience, think of what you can give back to the community. After years of being in the technical writing field, there is a lot that you can teach those who are just entering your profession. Why not take this opportunity to give back some of what you have received?

Contact Information

If you would like any information, or if you would like to apply to be an advisory committee member, please contact:

Laila De Abreo
Education Manager
Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
Corporate and Continuing Education
401 The West Mall, Suite 630
Toronto, ON, M9C 5J5

Tel: 416-675-6622 x4243
Email: laila.deabreo@humber.ca

About Laila De Abreo

Laila De Abreo is the Education Manager for the Corporate and Continuing Education area of Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning. Her priorities are to constantly improve the quality of the programs and to seek new areas of education, which will provide students with the knowledge they need to achieve success. Laila recently joined the Humber Institute, but as a college instructor, her specialty was international business and global marketing.

As a life long learner, she appreciates the importance and complexity of the education system—both as an educator and as a student. During her career in the private sector, Laila excelled in positions of finance, marketing, sales, procurement and project management