Course Offerings
Course Offerings
The Master of Science degree requires 30 semester hours. These hours are accumulated by taking at least six courses from the TCO graduate courses(three credits each), up to three electives (three credits each), and a capstone project (three credits). The capstone course, Project Research, is completed in place of a traditional master’s thesis and provides students with research experience for practitioners.
The courses may be taken in any order although students who have no background in technical communication must begin the program with TCO 602, Foundations in Technical Communication. Students may take up to three electives from the Mercer MBA program, from TCO elective offerings (TCO 691), or from other options approved by the program director.
Two courses are generally taught each fall and spring term. One course is taught each summer. Below is a tentative schedule of offerings for the next two years. (Inclusion of courses on this list is for planning purposes only and does not constitute a commitment by Mercer’s MSTCM program to offer the courses listed during the terms indicated.) Although courses do not have prerequisites, certain courses may have preferred sequencing, depending on an individual student’s background and experience.
Spring 2024
TCO 630 Managing People and Projects
TCO 676 Visual Communication
TCO 685 Project Research
Summer 2024
TCO 691 Special Topics AI-Powered Insights: Advanced Strategies for Textual Data in Communication
Fall 2024
TCO 602 Foundations in Technical Communication
TCO 620 Managing Multimedia
TCO 651 Managing International Projects
TCO 670 Managing Instructional Systems
Capstone
After they have taken a minimum of six other courses, students may register to take TCO 685, Project Research. In this course, students undertake a major research project that often results in a publishable manuscript, a professional conference presentation, or a proposal presentation to the student’s employer.