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Course

UX for Technical Communicators

WCWP-40341

UX for Technical Communicators
6 Weeks |  Online

User Experience (or UX) is a new communication design discipline that emerged in the years following the birth of the internet. It is focused on creating digital media that is both highly functional and highly informative – whether in the form of software applications or websites – with the intent of influencing the perceptions and behaviors of users. Practitioners of UX must possess a unique combination of advanced communication skills along with expertise in usability and human-computer interaction. Consequently, UX is also a field in which all of the aptitudes and skills traditionally possessed by technical communicators – from audience analysis and project planning to written communication and information design – come together and assume a prominent role in today’s digital world. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to UX from the perspective of professional communicators and the value they potentially bring to a UX project team in the 21st century. Students will learn about the overarching content strategies that exist on the web and how to implement them through various interaction, navigation, and visual design tools and techniques. They will also explore ways to analyze, evaluate, and test the design and content of digital media. The series of writing and design assignments in the course provide students with practice in producing some of the project deliverables relevant to most UX projects.


What you will learn:

  • An understanding of the purposes and principles of user experience (UX) – a discipline that extends beyond usability
  • The ability to identify different types of digital texts that exist for different types of users/readers – all part of a content strategy
  • An understanding of, and practice in, applying visual design principles to digital media based on user/reader research and content strategy
  • How to employ usability testing, a powerful (though certainly not the only) tool for evaluating the quality of digital media
Quarters Offered: Spring, Fall | Online
Contact: For more information about this course, please email ahl@ucsd.edu.
Note: Fulfills 2 units toward electives for the Technical Communication Certificate.

 

Course Information

Online
2.00 units
$380.00

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This course applies to these programs

Technical Communication

Course sessions

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Section ID:

187796

Class type:

Online Asynchronous.

This course is entirely web-based and to be completed asynchronously between the published course start and end dates. Synchronous attendance is NOT required.
You will have access to your online course on the published start date OR 1 business day after your enrollment is confirmed if you enroll on or after the published start date.

Textbooks:

All course materials are included unless otherwise stated.

Policies:

  • No refunds after: 4/11/2025
  • 1st no meeting date: 5/26/2025

Schedule:

No information available at this time.
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Instructor: Steven Lemanski

Steven Lemanski

Steve Lemanski teaches  Technical Communication I, Technical Communiation II, UX for Technical Communicators and Critical Thinking for Communicators for UC San Diego Extension's Technical Communication Certificate Program. 

Steve has worked as a professional writer, editor, and content strategist in the realms of marketing communications and technical communications for more than 20 years. He is now owner and managing editor of Human Factor Communications, LLC, where he helps clients re-design and fine-tune their internal and external multi-channel communications to better engage audiences and move them to action. Early in his communications career, Steve worked in media production (radio, television, and newspaper), in Colorado and Arizona. He has written, edited, and published high-tech marketing, product development, and corporate communications—both print and digital—for original equipment manufacturers, IT service providers, government agencies, and a large healthcare organization.

Steve believes everything he has done as a professional communicator in industry and the media has led him to an even more personally rewarding career as a postsecondary writing and communication instructor. Before teaching technical communication courses for UC San Diego Extended Studies, for four years Steve taught first-year English composition at community colleges in Virginia and Colorado. 

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