Education, Professional Development, and the Future of Technical Communicators

In this presentation, I will begin with my self-learning journey in technical writing, sharing how I transitioned from being an English major with a background in localization to becoming a technical writer with no prior experience in the field and how I had the chance to join Infomagic’s course “Trainning Camp for TC Beginner” where I interacted with experienced professionals, learning from their insights and advice. This experience significantly influenced my subsequent internships, enabling me to gain deeper insights.

Then, the presentation will focus on the role of AI in empowering the growth of newcomers in technical writing, encompassing both personal and document-related aspects.
For the personal aspect, I will discuss how I utilized AI to assist in creating my personal website which serves as a platform for me, a new TCer, to showcase works and enhance personal influence. (Visit my personal website: https://lishanlan.com/folio2/index.html.)
For the document-related aspect, I will share my experience of using AI to explore automated documentation workflows. This exploration was motivated by the real challenges encountered during my internships: how can document teams with multiple language requirements and frequent updates keep documents synchronized across various languages with limited human resources? Previously, due to constraints in human resources and costs, teams may have had to sacrifice the quality and timeliness of documents in some languages. However, with the emergence of AI agents, leveraging AI to automate the synchronization of multilingual documents has become feasible. This will be the central focus of this segment of the presentation.

To meet the new English language proficiency requirements for civil aviation professionals, enhance teaching and training capabilities in aviation operations and maintenance, and provide technical support for the overseas operation of domestically produced commercial aircraft, Ordos Institute of Technology has collaborated with Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin Tianhangchuangli Science & Technology Co.Ltd, and COMAC Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co.Ltd. Focused on the maintenance needs of domestic aircraft, they developed a training platform for the three-dimensional (3D) data maintenance manuals of a specific model of domestically produced commercial aircraft. This platform utilizes technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual simulation, offering an immersive bilingual (Chinese and English) training experience based on maintenance big data and logic. The training platform has been tested at multiple sites, including the Maintenance Delivery Center of COMAC, the Large Aircraft Academy at Ordos Institute of Technology, Civil Aviation University of China, Chengdu Airlines and China Eastern Airlines Jiangxi Branch, receiving positive feedback. Additionally, the local Education and Sports Bureau is planning to use some features of this system for youth science outreach activities. Media organizations in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Ordos City have conducted multiple reports on this project.

As globalization accelerates and information technology develops rapidly, telling the Chinese stories well is crucial in enhancing the country’s cultural soft power and international image. Technical communication, as an emerging field that integrates technology and communication, provides new ideas and methods for telling the Chinese stories well. Cultivating technical communication thinking skills to tell the Chinese stories well can help integrate diverse communication technologies and break through cross-cultural barriers. On one hand, from the perspective of content, we need to leverage technology to deeply explore the meaning of Chinese stories and present them in visual and interactive forms, such as using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to create immersive experiences that allow the world to experience the charm of Chinese culture more vividly. On the other hand, in terms of communication channels, we should take advantage of social media, big data, and other technological tools to accurately target audiences and achieve personalized communication. At the same time, it is essential to cultivate professionals with technical communication thinking skills. This can be achieved by offering courses in technical communication and technical writing, incorporating case studies from Chinese enterprises and industries, developing the latest efficient communication technologies, and improving both pre-job and on-the-job training mechanisms. This will enhance practitioners’ audience thinking, technical thinking, and holistic thinking abilities, thereby improving overall professional competence. In conclusion, cultivating the technical communication thinking skills to tell the Chinese stories well is an important path to bringing the Chinese stories to the global stage.

Research consistently demonstrates the centrality of writing in engineering careers, with studies indicating that engineers spend up to 70% of their workday on writing tasks. As Winsor (1990) succinctly stated, “writing is what engineers do” (p. 68). However, the emergence of artificial intelligence and large language models has sparked debate about the future of writing instruction in engineering education.

Robert Connor’s 1982 seminal work on the history of technical writing instruction in American colleges and universities informs us that technical writing instruction in the US is closely related to engineering education from its beginning. By 1900, engineering schools recognized the critical need of their students for the knowledge of the writing demands for the engineering profession. So, technically speaking, it was within these engineering schools that the courses we now know as technical writing began. However, technical writing has not been offered as a standalone subject to undergraduate engineering students in China.

Upon arrival on US campuses, senior Chinese engineering students were appalled that they were required to take a technical writing class offered by the English Department as part of their engineering curriculum. This panel presentation invites one Chinese engineering professor with study and working experiences in both China and the US, three Chinese engineering students who studied in China and the US to talk about their initial exposure to technical writing instruction, their application of technical writing guidelines in engineering contexts, and their insights on the connection between technical writing and engineering education. The panelists will report how they engaged with an assignment in a technical writing class in the fall of 2024. The assignment asked the students to “retell” the history of technical writing instruction in American colleges as they have read from Connor’s article to their chosen Chinese audience, for example, parents, professors, and former classmates. These students’ final deliverables demonstrate that with formal instruction, they can quickly apply fundamental technical writing principles, such as audience analysis, document design, and clear organization of complex information, into practice.

The panelists will interact with conference participants to explore how technical writing instruction can better serve engineering students.