Twin Cities campus

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Twin Cities Campus

Scientific and Technical Communication M.S.

Writing Studies Department
College of Liberal Arts
Link to a list of faculty for this program.
Contact Information
Department of Writing Studies, 214 Nolte Center, 315 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (612-624-3445; fax: 612-624-3617)
Email: WRIT@umn.edu
Website: http://cla.umn.edu/writing-studies
  • Program Type: Master's
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2019
  • Length of program in credits: 30
  • This program requires summer semesters for timely completion.
  • Degree: Master of Science
Along with the program-specific requirements listed below, please read the General Information section of this website for requirements that apply to all major fields.
The MS in scientific and technical communication focuses on applying basic theory and research to the practice of scientific and technical communication in the workplace. Students connect with workplace professionals through client projects, virtual and global teamwork, mentorships, and emerging technologies. These experiences enable students to develop unique strengths in digital, usability, and/or science/health/medical communication. A capstone research project positions students for applied work in technical communication.
Program Delivery
  • completely online (all program coursework can be completed online)
Prerequisites for Admission
International applicants must submit score(s) from one of the following tests:
  • TOEFL
    • Internet Based - Total Score: 79
    • Internet Based - Writing Score: 21
    • Internet Based - Reading Score: 19
    • Paper Based - Total Score: 550
  • IELTS
    • Total Score: 6.5
  • MELAB
    • Final score: 80
Key to test abbreviations (TOEFL, IELTS, MELAB).
For an online application or for more information about graduate education admissions, see the General Information section of this website.
Program Requirements
Plan C: Plan C requires 21 major credits and 9 credits outside the major. There is no final exam. A capstone project is required.
Capstone Project: WRIT 8505, Professional Practice, is the capstone course.
This program may be completed with a minor.
Use of 4xxx courses toward program requirements is permitted under certain conditions with adviser approval.
Required Coursework (18 credits)
Take the following courses for a total of 18 credits:
WRIT 5001 - Foundations and Futures of Technical Communication (3.0 cr)
WRIT 5112 - Information Design: Theory and Practice (3.0 cr)
WRIT 5561 - Editing and Style for Technical Communicators (3.0 cr)
WRIT 4562 - International Professional Communication (3.0 cr)
WRIT 8505 - Professional Practice (3.0 cr)
WRIT 5662 - Writing With Digital Technologies (3.0 cr)
Electives (3 credits)
Take at least 3 credits of electives, selected in consultation with the advisor or director of graduate studies.Note: WRIT 5671 Visual Rhetoric is not offered online.
Take 3 or more credit(s) from the following:
· WRIT 4573W - Writing Proposals and Grant Management [WI] (3.0 cr)
· WRIT 4501 - Usability and Human Factors in Technical Communication (3.0 cr)
· WRIT 4664W - Science, Medical, and Health Writing [WI] (3.0 cr)
· WRIT 5671 - Visual Rhetoric (3.0 cr)
Related Field Competency Area (9 credits)
Take at least 9 credits outside the Department of Writing Studies, in consultation with the advisor or director of graduate studies. Possible courses include the following list. Note that additional courses are allowed based on consultation and approval by advisor.
Take 9 or more credit(s) from the following:
· PHAR 5201 - Applied Medical Terminology (2.0 cr)
· HINF 5430 - Foundations of Health Informatics I (3.0 cr)
· HINF 5520 - Informatics Methods for Health Care Quality, Outcomes, and Patient Safety (2.0 cr)
· HINF 5531 - Health Data Analytics and Data Science (3.0 cr)
· NURS 5115 - Nursing Informatics and Digital Health Technologies (3.0 cr)
· NURS 5116 - Consumer Health Informatics (2.0 cr)
· KIN 5202 - Current Issues in Health (2.0 cr)
· PHAR 5700 - Applied Fundamentals of Pharmacotherapy (3.0 cr)
· NURS 7118 - Human Factors and Human-Computer Interaction in Health Informatics (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 6724 - The Health Care System and Public Health (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 6735 - Principles of Health Policy (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 6741 - Ethics in Public Health: Professional Practice and Policy (1.0 cr)
· PUBH 7710 - Setting Priorities and Framing Public Health Issues (2.0 cr)
· COMM 5441 - Communication in Human Organizations (3.0 cr)
· OLPD 5501 - Principles and Methods of Evaluation (3.0 cr)
· OLPD 5607 - Organization Development (3.0 cr)
· OLPD 5612 - International Human Resource Development (3.0 cr)
· OLPD 5616 - Instructional Design for e-Learning (3.0 cr)
· EPSY 5101 - Intelligence and Creativity (3.0 cr)
· EPSY 5243 - Principles and Methods of Evaluation (3.0 cr)
· EPSY 5261 - Introductory Statistical Methods (3.0 cr)
· CI 5156 - Popular Culture, Teaching, and Learning (3.0 cr)
· CI 5307 - Technology for Teaching and Learning (1.5 cr)
· CI 5323 - Online Learning Communities (3.0 cr)
· CI 5325 - Designing and Developing Online Distance Learning (3.0 cr)
· CI 5331 - Introduction to Learning Technologies (3.0 cr)
· CI 5336 - Planning for Multimedia Design and Development (3.0 cr)
· CI 5361 - Teaching and Learning with the Internet (2.0-3.0 cr)
· CI 5362 - Foundations of Interactive Design for Web-based Learning (3.0 cr)
· CI 5371 - Learning Analytics: Theory and Practice (3.0 cr)
 
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WRIT 5001 - Foundations and Futures of Technical Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course offers an overview of the field of technical communication. Students learn about the history of the field including job titles, industries that hire technical communicators, and trends in the field. Students also learn about research methods (including audience analysis and usability testing); software and apps commonly used in technical communication; social issues in technical communication (including legal, ethical, and organizational); and international issues (including writing for regulated environments such as in the medical device industry). Projects are multi-modal and include written reports; slide presentations with and without voice recordings; visual communication including user documentation and movies. Some projects are done individually but most are done in virtual teams. Weekly discussion forums provide students with opportunities to lead and summarize key themes from each week?s topic. Students in this class participate within a community of technical communication professionals and typically have a background in technical communication, medical/science communication, engineering, software, usability, customer support, writing and communication, marketing, or similar area.
WRIT 5112 - Information Design: Theory and Practice
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
This course examines how verbal, visual, and multimedia content can be designed and combined to create meaning, improve comprehension, and make information more usable. Emphasis is placed on the rhetorical roles of visual elements in print and digital communications, and how technical communicators can use visual means to reach audiences, convey information, and achieve rhetorical goals. Students read and discuss theory, practice information design skills, and apply both to real communications projects suitable for inclusion in a professional portfolio. Projects focus on print and web content design and development; the information design process (plan, design, develop, layout, testing); project planning toward deliverables (web sites, signage, wayfinding); and universal design (color, symbols, etc.)
WRIT 5561 - Editing and Style for Technical Communicators
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Summer
In this course, students learn strategies for editing and revising writing for technical and non-technical audiences. Students practice three levels of editing skills: proofreading, copyediting, and comprehensive editing. Strategies include advanced grammar and style, editing tools, quantitative data, global documents, and various style guides. Students also examine an editor?s role with authors, in organizations, in global contexts, and in ethical situations. Editing projects focus on the three levels of editing, using proficient methods, collaborating between authors and editors, identifying audience and contexts, editing documents according to style guides, and using rhetorical principles to analyze and edit final documents.
WRIT 4562 - International Professional Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
This course prepares students to navigate the increasingly global nature of communication and the challenges and opportunities it presents. Students learn how to develop content for and work with clients and colleagues from other cultures, communicate with multicultural audiences, and collaborate in virtual global teams using multiple synchronous and asynchronous technologies. The course includes work with peers and international scholars from various parts of the world. Projects include a metaphorical comparative analysis of cultures; management (global virtual team work) of a translation project with students from another country; interviews with managers/employees in multinational corporations; and curation work with an international archive on emerging technologies.
WRIT 8505 - Professional Practice
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: S-N only
Typically offered: Every Spring
This course is designed to provide a class structure to assist graduate students in completing writing requirements and oral presentations associated with professional projects -- research, scientific writing, and associated reports -- as part of their graduate programs. Learning outcomes include the following: to foster advanced skills in writing and editing scientific and/or technical documents for various audiences; to design and develop research reports and related documents for graduate programs in scientific and technical communication and other technical disciplines; to understand and apply theoretical and research perspectives in scientific and technical communication to professional practice projects; to expand use of online tools for project development and management and data analysis; to enhance skills in oral presentation of scientific and/or technical research information; and to identify and reflect on the culture and value of professional practice from a disciplinary perspective.
WRIT 5662 - Writing With Digital Technologies
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Writ 4662W/Writ 5662
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course explores current and emerging digital writing technologies and teaches students to assess writing situations and make appropriate decisions about digital form, production, and scholarship. Students learn the basic building blocks of writing in Internet environments (text, sound, images, video, interactivity); the vocabularies, functionalities, and organizing structures of Web 2.0 environments and how each impacts understanding and use of information; and how to produce Web 2.0 environments (i.e., multimedia internet documents) that facilitate interactivity and use. This course includes design projects and practice with apps, markup language (html and xml), and content management systems.
WRIT 4573W - Writing Proposals and Grant Management (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
This advanced-level Writing Studies course introduces students to the activities, responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities that characterize proposals for nonprofits and/or research/business. Students analyze unique proposal writing situations, including audiences (customers, reviewers, and teammates) and resources (collaborators, templates, and time). Students practice the entire process of proposal and grant writing: 1) describing the problem in context; 2) identifying sponsors and finding a match; 3) designing, writing, revising, and completing all proposal components; 4) conceptualizing and using persuasive visual elements; and 5) presenting and responding to stakeholders and sponsors.
WRIT 4501 - Usability and Human Factors in Technical Communication
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Writ 4501/Writ 5501
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Usability is concerned with how people interact with design and technology; usability is commonly known as the "ease of use" of products and technologies by a range of users. This course emphasizes usability and user research and will explore the intersection of usability and technical communication. We will investigate definitions of usability and user-centered design principles, and we will explore a variety of usability research methods including heuristic evaluation, personas, and usability testing. The course will focus heavily on usability testing of web sites, a common technical communication task that involves observation and interviews of human participants interacting with a web site.
WRIT 4664W - Science, Medical, and Health Writing (WI)
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Writ 4664W/ Writ 5664
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course explores the theories and practices of rhetoric and writing in science, medicine, and health (SMH). Students learn about genres of SMH communication including regulatory documents from the FDA, podcasts created by scientists for the public, patient blogs, and published research articles. The course also engages topics including accessibility, writing in regulated environments, writing for complex audiences, and engaging biomedical and scientific research in writing. Students are challenged to consider how language, science, biomedicine, and health intersect and how different stakeholders such as patients, healthcare providers, scientists, government officials, and insurance companies engage in SMH communication.
WRIT 5671 - Visual Rhetoric
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
This course investigates current understandings of how visuals participate in and extend the rhetorical strategies long associated with speech and writing. Students explore developments in the discipline of visual rhetoric by engaging with an emerging canon of texts that survey the work of rhetoricians, graphic designers, graphic novelists, commercial artists, fine artists, and technical communicators. Emphasis is placed on the use of visuals in science and technology; identifying shared principles of persuasion through visual information; developing the vocabulary to comment on, critique, and create visuals; and assessing whether visuals meet the needs of intended audiences.
PHAR 5201 - Applied Medical Terminology
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Course Equivalencies: Phar 1002/Phar 5201
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Interested in learning the difference between an antigen and an antibiotic? During this course, you will not only increase your medical vocabulary by more than 2500 words at your own pace, you will also learn to identify and articulately describe a wide variety of medical conditions and processes. Communication related to disease states, procedures, and diagnostics in health care can sometimes seem like another language. This course will help you recognize medical abbreviations, relate terms to procedures and diagnostics, and comprehend the meaning of medical terminology by using word elements. If you are interested in the health care field or would like to understand more about your own medical care, this course is a great place to start. Prereq: Basic knowledge of human anatomy/physiology
HINF 5430 - Foundations of Health Informatics I
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
An introductory survey of health informatics, focusing on foundational concepts. Topics covered include: conceptualizations of data, information, and knowledge; current terminologies, coding, and classification systems for medical information; ethics, privacy, and security; systems analysis, process and data modeling; human-computer interaction and data visualization. Lectures, readings, and exercises highlight the intersections of these topics with electronic health record systems and other health information technology. prereq: Junior, senior, grad student, professional student, or instr consent
HINF 5520 - Informatics Methods for Health Care Quality, Outcomes, and Patient Safety
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Application/operation of clinical information systems, electronic health records, decision support/application in health care system. Use of clinical information systems/association with health care delivery, payment, quality, outcomes. prereq: Junior or senior or grad student or professional student or instr consent
HINF 5531 - Health Data Analytics and Data Science
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Data science methods and techniques for the extraction, preparation, and use of health data in decision making. prereq: Junior or senior or professional student or grad student or instr consent
NURS 5115 - Nursing Informatics and Digital Health Technologies
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
This course will provide an introduction to the field of nursing informatics and its role in supporting care processes to ensure safe, high-quality, and efficient healthcare. Nurses, as members of multidisciplinary healthcare teams, play an important role in the implementation and governance of these informatics and digital health tools. Skills on using data from these tools to generate knowledge, drive decision-making, and support equitable access to quality, safe care will be shared. Nurse contributions in using digital technologies, influencing policies, and emerging trends in the field will be discussed.
NURS 5116 - Consumer Health Informatics
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: OPT No Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course examines issues from the consumer?s perspective in the acquisition, understanding, or use of health information. Mobile health, telehealth, sensor technology, and internet sources for improving health are examined. The impact on consumer-provider communication and relationships as well as ethical and legal issues are explored. prereq: Grad student or instr consent
KIN 5202 - Current Issues in Health
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Summer
Critical thinking for health issues in research/media. Issues specific to conflict, stress, public policy, and communication. Projects, debates.
PHAR 5700 - Applied Fundamentals of Pharmacotherapy
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: Phar 3700/Phar 5700
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Pharmacotherapy, the treatment of disease through the administration of medications, is a field particularly interesting to many health care workers. This course is designed to introduce students to some of the main drug classes available for the treatment of particular diseases. Students will also learn about basic pharmacology, recognize brand and generic drug names, and explore their common uses and therapeutic classes. A basic understanding of treatment options available for common disease states will also be developed during this course. Additionally, the course develops basic proficiency in the use of drug information resources. This is a completely online course with due dates throughout the semester, though students have the option to work ahead if they choose. This course is offered each Fall, Spring, and Summer term. For more information, contact phar3700@umn.edu or 612-624-7976. Prereq: Medical terminology recommended
NURS 7118 - Human Factors and Human-Computer Interaction in Health Informatics
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Principles of human factors and human-computer interaction to optimize research/practice in nursing and health informatics. Interactive system design that accommodates/enhances capabilities of user. prereq: Biostatistics or instr consent
PUBH 6724 - The Health Care System and Public Health
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Overview of health care delivery, finance systems within public health context. Components of health care system: financing, role of employers/public programs, health care delivery system, managed care. Collaborative interventions between managed care, public health. prereq: Public health or grad student or instr consent
PUBH 6735 - Principles of Health Policy
Credits: 3.0 [max 6.0]
Course Equivalencies: PubH 6735/PubH 6835.
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the policy environment that influences and shapes public health and the provision of health care services, to enhance understanding of the historical and political context of health policy, to develop strategies for analysis of health policy issues, and to communicate effectively in the policy environment. Credit will not be granted if credit has been received for PubH 6835.
PUBH 6741 - Ethics in Public Health: Professional Practice and Policy
Credits: 1.0 [max 1.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Introduction to ethical issues in public health practice/policy. Ethical analysis, recognizing/analyzing moral issues. prereq: Public health [MPH or MHA or certificate] student or environmental health [MS or PhD] major or instr consent
PUBH 7710 - Setting Priorities and Framing Public Health Issues
Credits: 2.0 [max 6.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Spring
The course is designed to develop the skills required to define researchable policy questions, critically analyze policy issues and problems, articulate relevant policy options and bring research and data to help frame decision-making. Additionally, this course will familiarize students with the governmental public health system in the United States. In the field of health policy, there are always multiple sides to every issue and complex political and socio-economic dynamics that create a certain level of uncertainty about what to do. This complexity makes predicting outcomes and making recommendations for policy solutions difficult. Yet decisions still need to be made and are often made given the best information available at that particular time. Providing recommendations based on an analysis of available evidence is an important part of any decision-making process. Through the use of varied writing and presentation exercises students will learn to identify issues, develop problem statements, define an audience and analyze an issue based on a set of key criteria.
COMM 5441 - Communication in Human Organizations
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Communication in organizational settings. Organizational structure and dynamics and their effect upon the communication process. Individual projects.
OLPD 5501 - Principles and Methods of Evaluation
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: OLPD 5501/EPsy 5243
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Introduction to program evaluation. Planning an evaluation study, collecting and analyzing information, reporting results; evaluation strategies; overview of the field of program evaluation.
OLPD 5607 - Organization Development
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
Introduction to major concepts, skills, and techniques for organization development/change. prereq: Grad student only
OLPD 5612 - International Human Resource Development
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Problems, practices, programs, theories, and methodologies in human resource development as practiced internationally. prereq: Grad students only; ugrd seniors with instr consent
OLPD 5616 - Instructional Design for e-Learning
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall, Spring & Summer
Major concepts, skills, and techniques for giving and receiving training on the Internet. prereq: Grad student only
EPSY 5101 - Intelligence and Creativity
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: EPsy 3101/EPsy 5101
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Contemporary theories of intelligence and intellectual development and contemporary theories of creativity and their implications for educational practices and psychological research.
EPSY 5243 - Principles and Methods of Evaluation
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: OLPD 5501/EPsy 5243
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Introductory course in program evaluation; planning an evaluation study, collecting and analyzing information, reporting results; overview of the field of program evaluation.
EPSY 5261 - Introductory Statistical Methods
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: EPsy 3264/5231/5261/5263
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
EPSY 5261 is designed to engage students in statistics as a principled approach to data collection, prediction, and scientific inference. Students first learn about data collection (e.g., random sampling, random assignment) and examine data descriptively using graphs and numerical summaries. Students build conceptual understanding of statistical inference through the use of simulation-based methods (bootstrapping and randomization) before going on to learn parametric methods, such as t-tests (one-sample and two-sample means), z-tests (one-sample and two-sample proportions), chi-square tests, and regression. This course uses pedagogical methods grounded in research, such as small group activities and discussion. Attention undergraduates: As this is a graduate level course, it does not fulfill the Mathematical Thinking Liberal Education requirement. If you would like to take a statistics course in our department that fulfills that requirement, please consider EPSY 3264.
CI 5156 - Popular Culture, Teaching, and Learning
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall
Approaches to the study of popular culture and education. Intersection between everyday life and broader historical contexts. Sporting events, toys, clothing, shopping malls, vampire mania, music festivals, video, and comics are the kinds of popular forms of culture we will engage as we develop teaching/learning strategies. prereq: Grad student or sr in a program that values teaching as a component of the discipline
CI 5307 - Technology for Teaching and Learning
Credits: 1.5 [max 1.5]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Diverse educational technology in K-12 classrooms. Effective use of technology. Computer technologies used to stimulate personal productivity/communication and to enhance teaching/learning processes. prereq: [MEd/initial licensure or CLA music ed major or preteaching major or instr consent], basic computer skills
CI 5323 - Online Learning Communities
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Students design/research an online learning environment that promotes community. What community is, how it fosters learning in educational learning environments. Theories of distance learning instruction. Community models. technological tools to develop online communities.
CI 5325 - Designing and Developing Online Distance Learning
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Prerequisites: 5351 or 5362 recommended
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
Students research, use, and evaluate technologies for distance learning and design their own learning environments. prereq: 5351 or 5362 recommended
CI 5331 - Introduction to Learning Technologies
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
An exciting look at the field of learning technologies (LT), examining the numerous opportunities this area of study brings to individuals who decide to pursue a LT degree. Students engage in numerous real-world projects as they come to understand both the past and future of technology in education, business, and society as a whole.
CI 5336 - Planning for Multimedia Design and Development
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Theory, research, practice in instructional design. Generic components of instructional design process. Applying principles to design/development of computer-based instructional materials.
CI 5361 - Teaching and Learning with the Internet
Credits: 2.0 -3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Implications/challenges in using Internet-based technologies in classroom. Pedagogical models.
CI 5362 - Foundations of Interactive Design for Web-based Learning
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F or Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
Processes of designing/developing interactive learning media and online applications from ground up. Focuses on usability/aesthetics in online learning.
CI 5371 - Learning Analytics: Theory and Practice
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Learning analytics as a nascent field is broadly defined as the "measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs." This course aims to provide a general, non-technical survey of learning analytics, as well as its application in various educational contexts. In particular, we will discuss foundations of learning analytics, survey pertinent education theories, discuss new forms of assessment, explore popular data mining techniques, review learning analytical tools and case studies, and de- sign analytics for our own interested contexts. Given the breadth of this field, additional support is provided for deep dives in special interest areas. Overall, this course provides a comprehensive, theory-driven overview of learning analytics to orient students to this nascent field and prepare them for advanced research/practice in learning analytics.