Missouri University of Science and Technology is partnering with Adobe Systems Inc. to give technical communication students hands-on experience with industry-standard software.

Through its University Outreach Program, Adobe is providing a free license for its Technical Communication Suite 5 collection of software programs. The agreement, valued at $52,000, will allow students to develop fundamental skills in the field of technical communication and will give them access to a repository of free online training materials, including seminars, videos and white papers.

“This agreement with Adobe will allow our students to stay up-to-date with the latest software in their technical communication suite,” says Dr. David Wright, associate professor of English and technical communication at Missouri S&T. “A solid background in these programs, which are the industry standard, will give our students a competitive advantage in the workforce. Students in almost any of our courses can take advantage of one or a combination of these tools.”

Adobe’s Technical Communication Suite 5 includes FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Captivate, Presenter and Acrobat – all programs technical communication students could encounter in their chosen profession.

“Adobe Presenter might be used to create online training or distance education files,” says Wright. “Captivate would be used to create multimedia presentations that can be sent digitally to audiences anywhere in the world, like software or product demonstrations. FrameMaker is typically used for documentation products and allows students to use xml tags that will allow for several versions of documentation to be created for different audiences.”

Missouri S&T offers bachelor of science and master of science degrees in technical communication, as well as both undergraduate and graduate certificate programs. For more information visit english.mst.edu/department/techcom/.