Technical Writing students at Louisiana Tech University are expanding their international perspectives through a new partnership with Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) in Norway. The unique program — Engineering Communication in Global Contexts — fosters collaboration between students and faculty from both universities to improve technical communication skills in the global engineering sphere.
The partnership launched with collaborate online courses in spring 2024. This fall, five Louisiana Tech students and two OsloMet students ventured to the opposite partner university for a quarter-long exchange.
“This exchange has really opened my eyes to the truly grand scale of global technical communication,” reflected K. R. Ray, one of the Louisiana Tech student participants currently studying on OsloMet’s campus. “While a lot of the elements are familiar, there are many more that I may not have ever considered if it weren’t for seeing them firsthand. Knowing your audience, including their unique cultural experiences and how they may differ from your own, is integral for producing engaging and informative writing.”
The program fuses intercultural understanding with technical communication to explore best strategies and techniques for different genres of professional and technical communication in the global contexts. Louisiana Tech’s contribution to this partnership is led by the School of Literature and Language’s Technical Writing program and is designed to foster interdisciplinary communication research with technical and engineering fields in different nations.
“We are all part of an interconnected global society, and this program provides students with the skills and experiences essential to success in this greater international context,” Professor and Eunice C. Williamson Chair of Technical Communication Dr. Kirk St.Amant explained.
A central goal of the program is to develop internships and research partnerships between Norway and the United States in order to offer students the chance to implement their new communication skills in professional settings.
This project was sponsored by a $300,000 grant from the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills awarded to St.Amant and Pavel Zemliansky of Oslo Metropolitan University.
For more information on this project, contact Dr. Kirk St.Amant, Eunice C. Williamson Endowed Chair in Technical Communication at stamantk@latech.edu.