This presentation features results of an online focus group conversation among five nonprofit proposal writers ('also colloquially 1(110471 as "grant writers") in the early to mid-stages of their careers, reflecting on the roles thatjob training, mentors/zip, professional organizations, and a course in nonprofit proposal writing have had on their career knowledge and success. The studyfound that historical and cultural knowledge of the community, the organization, and the project being funded seemed to be of equal importance to experiences in training or mentoring. The paper shares the experiences of learning these skills within a university level grant writing course and the participants provide recommendations for new grant professionals.
Increasingly, higher education institutions are investing in a booming microcredentialing industry. These flexible, self-paced courses often promise to improve learners' hireability through teaching skills that meet market and employer demands. This paper investigates the perceptions of microcredentials within the context of hiring entry-level workers who recently graduated from undergraduate technical and professional writing academic programs. Our qualitative research study reports on the findings from 4 interviews with hiring managers and recruiters in a U.S. metropolitan area. In the guided interview protocol, participants were asked to reflect on their reactions to two sample resumes that included different qualifying credentials. The findings suggest that while microcredentials are appreciated for demonstrating a candidate's initiative and eagerness for self-improvement, they are not yet seen as equivalent to traditional degrees. Portfolios were highlighted as a valuable tool for candidates to demonstrate the practical application of skills, especially when microcredential rigor is in question.
In this paper, we draw from entrepreneurship literature to develop a typology of visual genres representing "journey"-related aspects of entrepreneurship. We identify and characterize iterative, linear, and synchronic representations of the entrepreneur's journey, providing examples of each from the entrepreneurship literature, and we discuss how these visual genres collectively help neophyte entrepreneurs understand different aspects of their entrepreneurial journey. Finally, we draw implications fir entrepreneurship communication and Jr professional communication more generally.
User forums are a popular form of user support. Many companies that provide complex products or services host online forums moderated by their employees. On these forums, users discuss problems they encountered with other users and experts. The most prominent advantages of user forums over other types of user support are that users do not have to search for the information they need and that they can get help on their individual problems. Previous studies have investigated various aspects of user forums, but research on what factors influence the success ofproblem-solving on user forums is scarce. In this paper, we present results of a content analysis of 50 discussions (threads) on user forums. The findings show that most threads were unsuccessfUl, which means that no solution was presented or not every participant agreed nith the presented solution. The results of the analysis of' the characteristics of the threads and the individual posts imply that companies should aim to moderate user support forums to keep the threads from becoming too large and that they should encourage users to critically assess suggestions and provide comprehensive information.
We present an assignment that leads students through a process of self-reflection, ethical analysis, and collaborative inquiry in a master’s level computer science course that blends professional communication and computing ethics. Students write a case-study narrative involving an ethical "failure" related to their own experiences as computer scientists. Rather than seeking a "right answer," the assignment provides students with an inquiry-based model of ethical decision-making drawn not from abstract principles but from practical wisdom informed by broader social, political, and historical conditions. Because we piloted both the course and the assignment in the spring of 2024, we discuss preliminary insights on the assignment and, more generally, on the possibilities of combining community literacy and deep tech ethics in the computer science classroom.
