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Metropolitan State University (Home)

Technical Communication (MS)

College of Liberal Arts / Technical Communication and Interaction Design
Graduate degree / Master of Science

About The Program

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The Master of Science in Technical Communication is an innovative program that provides advanced training in the professional practice and theory of technical communication. The program has been designed to:

  • help you succeed in this exciting, challenging, and evolving profession, within a global marketplace;
  • enable you to solve complex communication problems for a variety of audiences, in a variety of media.

In addition to being useful to technical communication professionals, this program may also help people in a variety of fields, including education, graphic design, training, marketing, multimedia development, science, and engineering. You learn how to use your knowledge in practical, on-the-job situations; and all of the professors combine academic excellence with their own real-world experience.

To individualize the master's program, you select four 4-credit electives. 

You may choose electives that lead to you earning a graduate certificate in the Design of User Experience, Learner Experience Design, or Project Management. Also, you may choose an independent study or an internship as an elective.

We particularly recommend internships if you have limited professional experience.

We encourage those considering the Technical Communication program to arrange an informational interview with the program director before submitting an application. Please contact the MS in Technical Communication program director at techcomm@metrostate.edu.

Student outcomes

  • Create technical communication in a variety of genres.
  • Apply rhetorical theory and professional ethics to the analysis and creation of visual and written content.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of international audiences, including cultural influences on technical communication and technical translation, localization, and globalization
  • Create and edit content that is inclusive, accessible, and anti-racist
  • Create structured content that is reusable, adaptable, and meets human information needs.
  • Applying technical communication principles, analyze multiple dimensions of a communications challenge and offer effective approaches.

How to enroll

Program eligibility requirements

How to Apply to the MS in Technical Communication

To be eligible for admission, you’ll need:

  • A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
  • Relevant coursework or professional experience in technical communication, professional writing, or interaction design
    • Don’t have this background? You may still qualify. In some cases, professional experience can substitute for coursework.
    • If you're missing both, we may ask you to complete specified courses before or during the program.
  • A minimum undergraduate GPA of 2.75 (on a 4.0 scale)

International Applicants

International students must meet the same academic and program requirements and provide proof of English proficiency via one of the following:

  • TOEFL: 80 (Internet), 550 (paper), or 213 (computer)
  • IELTS: 6.5 overall
  • Duolingo English Test: 105 (sent directly to Metro State)

Application Checklist

To complete your application, submit the following through the GradCAS website:

  • Online application
  • $38 nonrefundable application fee
  • Official transcripts
  • Statement of goals (1–2 pages)
    Describe how the MS in Technical Communication supports your personal, professional, or academic goals.
  • Portfolio of work (up to 20 pages or a link to a digital portfolio)
    Your portfolio should showcase your skills in technical writing, editing, design, and/or user experience.
  • Two references
    We recommend one academic and one professional reference, but other combinations are accepted.
  • Proof of English proficiency (for international applicants only)

How to Submit

  1. Visit the GradCAS website
  2. Select your intended start term:
    • Fall 2024 / Spring 2025
    • Summer 2025 / Fall 2025
  3. Create or log in to your account
  4. Choose Technical Communication (MS) as your program
  5. Upload all required materials and submit your application
    Note: You can only submit once. If you need to update your application after submission, contact graduate.studies@metrostate.edu.

Application Fee Waiver

Active-duty military, veterans, and Metro State alumni are eligible for an application fee waiver.
To request one, email graduate.studies@metrostate.edu.

Application instructions

Metro State University is participating in the common application for graduate programs (GradCAS). Applications are only accepted via the CAS website.

CAS steps

  1. Select the term for which you are seeking admission (below), and navigate to the CAS website. Open applications include:
  2. Create or log in to your account and select the Technical Communication (MS) program.
  3. Carefully review all instructions and complete all four sections of the application.

Specific application requirements for individual programs can be found on each program page in CAS. Carefully read the instructions that appear throughout the application pages. You can only submit your application once. If you need to update information you have submitted, please notify graduate.studies@metrostate.edu

Application fee

A nonrefundable $38 fee is required for each application.
Applications will not be processed until this fee is received.

Active-duty military, veterans, and Metro State alumni can receive an application fee waiver. Contact graduate.studies@metrostate.edu.

Courses and Requirements

SKIP TO COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Academic progress / academic standing

To earn the master’s degree in Technical Communication, your local/Metropolitan State University (MSU) Grade Point Average (GPA) must be at least 3.0. Only courses taken at MSU or courses taken through an MSTC advisor-approved off-campus program are used in computing your GPA. Courses in which a grade of C-, D, F, or NC was earned will not be accepted to meet prerequisites or for credit toward the MSTC degree. If a learning opportunity is repeated, both the grade and R (Repeat) are recorded on the transcript. If a learning opportunity is repeated once, only the higher grade is used in computing the GPA. If a learning opportunity is repeated more than once, the GPA includes all attempts except the first one. No course may be taken more than three times, including the original attempt.

Dismissal, dismissal appeals, and readmisssion

A student who is dismissed from the program may appeal, in writing, the dismissal to the MSTC program director, and the program director has 30 days to respond, in writing. The appeal must be submitted within 30 days of the date of the letter notifying them of the decision to dismiss them from the program. In addition, the appeal must provide specific reasons for the appeal. Students who have been dismissed from the program may apply for readmission no sooner than one calendar year after the last semester of study. To reapply, they have to complete the same process that was required for their initial admission and they must meet all the requirements of the program at the time of readmission. Readmission decisions are made by the MSTC program review committee and are not automatic.

Requirements (32 credits)

+ Prerequisites

Technical Communication is a multidisciplinary field, and students will have various academic and professional backgrounds. In light of that, it's preferable for students to begin the program with a common set of skills and theoretical background. This can be achieved to a large degree through experience and/or academic work in technical communication and professional writing. If you lack the experience or academic work, contact the program director at techcomm@metrostate.edu to see if you should take pre-requisite courses.

+ Core (16 credits)

In this course, students hone and refine editing skills on a variety of levels. Topics include electronic editing, using electronic resources, dynamics of the editor-writer relationship, editing information graphics, advanced copyediting and developmental editing. Class exercises cover grammar, punctuation, and usage issues. Each student works with a writer to edit and develop an original text.

Full course description for Advanced Editing

Technical Communication focuses on creating and reshaping content to make it usable and accessible to the people who need this content to achieve their goals. The course combines a survey of scholarship in the field of technical communication with practice in creating various types of goal-oriented, often task-based, content. Students learn how to use research tools to gather information on technical topics and from subject matter experts.

Full course description for Technical Communication Practice and Applied Theory

TCID 673 is designed to prepare students to write, create, and communicate in an international context and with an international audience. This course will focus on following content areas: cultural influences on technical communication; issues in technical translation, localization, and globalization; communicating in multinational corporations; and creating usable graphics and visuals for international audiences.

Full course description for Technical Communication in International Contexts

Intelligent content is all around us, working behind the scenes to produce instructions that come with our lawnmowers, explanations for medical devices, and user manuals for laptops, to name just a few examples. We create intelligent content through structured writing/authoring, which is both the creation of content and the method for managing this content. Because structured authoring creates controls for analyzing, organizing, and displaying content, it is key to publication workflows in organizations that provide a large amount of content. While learning a standardized approach to writing structured content, students also learn to apply rhetorical problem solving and computational thinking that results in content that is intelligent because it is adaptable, creates patterns of reuse, and results in consistency of content across documents/publication outputs.

Full course description for Creating Intelligent Content

+ Electives (16 credits)

To individualize the master's program, you select courses that will provide 16 credits of electives. Electives must be 500G- or 600-level courses and be approved by your MSTC advisor. You have the option of choosing electives that will lead to your earning a graduate certificate (e.g., Design of User Experience (DUeX), Learner Experience Design (LXD), Project Management (PM)) along with your master’s degree. Also, you may choose an independent study or an internship as an elective. Please ask your MSTC advisor about options for elective credit. Below is a list of popular electives.

This course is designed to provide an introduction to Learner Experience Design, which brings together principles of design and learning to create effective interactive training and learning experiences. The course draws on fields such as instructional design, user experience design (UXD), and learning and development. Students learn concepts and techniques to prepare them to analyze learners and learning situations and to choose appropriate strategies in order to create interactive, engaging, and effective learning experiences

Full course description for Foundations of Learner Experience Design

This course focuses on environmental communication which encompasses a multidisciplinary viewpoint. The course helps students understand how environmental issues and conflicts develop, the values underlying the perspectives on these issues, how these values are presented, and the scientific and technical information involved in understanding environmental communication.

Full course description for Environmental Communication

Student-designed independent studies give Metropolitan State students the opportunity to plan their own study. This type of independent learning strategy can be useful because it allows students: to study a subject in more depth, at a more advanced level; to pursue a unique project that requires specialized study; to draw together several knowledge areas or interests into a specialized study; to test independent learning capabilities and skills; or to use special learning resources in the community, taking advantage of community education opportunities which, in themselves, would not yield a full college competence. Students should contact their academic advisor for more information.

Full course description for Technical Comm and Interaction Design Student Designed Independent Studies

Strategies for Learner Experience Design focuses on strategies and tools to help designers create effective learning experiences that promote learner retention and application. Strategies discussed might include microlearning, interactive case studies, decision- making scenarios, spaced and guided practice, and short simulations -- all of which relate to the underlying concepts of conditional logic, variables, user and performance data, personalization, responsiveness, and universal design.

Full course description for Strategies for Learner Experience Design

This course teaches students a systematic procedure for researching, designing, editing and evaluating documents that convey specialized information. The primary focus is on effective design of layout and information, whether documents are paper or electronic. Document types discussed include promotional publications, proposals and various kinds of product literature.

Full course description for Advanced Document Design

This course introduces students to designing, conducting, communicating, and evaluating user research. Students learn to form and investigate a research question, examine existing literature, use a wide array of methods, conduct effective user research, make design recommendations, and communicate research findings.

Full course description for User Research

This course helps user experience professionals design human-centered content for user interfaces and create compelling user experiences. Learners will analyze user needs and rhetorical contexts, develop appropriate tone and voice, produce inclusive and accessible text, write for user interface components, create content prototypes, and assess the effectiveness of user experience content.

Full course description for User Experience Writing

This course provides a systematic and comprehensive overview of project leadership and management. Topics covered include all aspects of project management from project initiation issues, RFP formulation, proposal decisions, preparation, and evaluation, project planning and implementation to organization, risk assessment, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Also included are project planning techniques such as PERT, CPM, Earned Value Analysis, and project monitoring and simulation using Microsoft Project software.

Full course description for Project Management

This course, specifically designed for students interested in human resource management or general management, focuses on human resource development in organizations and stresses applications to improve productivity and employee satisfaction. Topics include the evolution of training and development, needs assessment, testing for developmental purposes, the learning process, selecting proper training methods, and evaluating training and development.

Full course description for Employee Development and Training