The Data, Information, and Technical Communication Executive Certificate at IIT is designed to teach participants to communicate about technical processes & complex data sets to a wide variety of stakeholders in both written and visual forms, and to manage the information systems within corporate structures. To achieve this, students work with work management platforms using Agile project management as well as content management systems. Our certificate program is unique among technical communication programs in its emphasis on data communication, visual communication, and contemporary work processes which complement our strengths in technical writing and information design.

Questions? Contact Hannah Ringler at hringler@iit.edu.

CERTIFICATE DETAILS

Audience: This certificate program is designed for a professional audience looking to build their skills in communicating technically. Students who complete this certificate may choose to later stack these courses towards an M.S. in Technology & Humanities, or an M.S. in Technical Communication and Information Communication.

Course structure: All courses are offered online and asynchronously. In each course, students will complete a series of online modules, supplemented by readings and individual and group assignments.

Enrollment fee: $10,000

Instructors:

Hannah Ringler, Ph.D. is a professor and director of communication across the curriculum at IIT, whose work focuses on the applications of technology and writing. 

Andrew Roback, Ph.D. is an instructor at IIT, with a specialization in technical communication.

Anthony Sansone is a Lead Technical Writer at Google, with previous technical writing experience at major tech companies like MongoDB and IBM.

COURSEWORK

Technical Writing

Discover the types of documents that technical writers produce, as well as key writing and ethical challenges in technical writing. Students will ultimately work toward producing effective and professional examples of internal and end-user documentation. In the process of doing so, students will also learn to manage projects by learning strategies for constructive team communication using work management systems. 

Topics covered: Common technical documents; ethics in technical writing; work management systems; Agile and Scrum methodologies; precision and concision in technical writing

Dates: August 21, 2023 - October 13, 2023

Information Design & Management

Learn principles and theories of information design, and how to apply them to create effective and accessible technical writing. Students will learn to manage information using content management systems, and then use that information to design both internal and end-user documentation and graphics.

Topics covered: Document design; accessibility; content management systems; information design

Dates: October 23, 2023 - December 15, 2023

Data Visualization & Communication

Understand how to query and manage both qualitative and quantitative data for various purposes. Students will be introduced to basic data visualization, and to considering ethical concerns that arise when communicating with data. Ultimately, students will learn to transform raw, unstructured data into reports for a variety of purposes.

Topics covered: Querying datasets with APIs; data management; cleaning and structuring data; quantitative and qualitative data; data visualization; ethics of data visualization; data report

Dates: January 8, 2024 - March 1, 2024

Visualization & Infographics

Discover how to create effective visualizations and infographics that enhance your arguments. Students will learn how to choose an effective form of data visualization, and to use data visualization tools and graphics platforms to analyze data and design their own visualizations.

Topics covered: Data visualization; infographics; graphics platforms; data visualization tools; data synthesis; visualizations in argument

Dates: March 11, 2024 - May 3, 2024