| Technical
Writing |
| Definition
-- The term "technical writing" covers everything fromwriting software user
guides to technical manuals for programmers. Online course development
most often requires writing (and thereby teaching) about technology, in one way or another. The Technical Writer's job is to
make reading technical documentation as painless but productive
as possible. This includes pages of text on a Flash presentation, an HTML page, a brochure, or a manual. |
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To read more about technical writing, click the
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| Writing for Online Courses
-- If the online course subject is
technical (which is often), the Instructional Designer may be expected to perform
the tasks of Technical Writer in addition to creating the course. Sometimes the course development
team includes a technical writer. But sometimes, technical writing
experience is listed as a required skill for Instructional Designers and
Course Developers. Often, Technical Writers and Instructional Designers create online Help
for software applications; by nature, Help files require breaking
down technical information to basic terms. |
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 Naturally, s ome
projects require more writing by the Course Developer than
other projects. How the team works together, and how team members
envision the "growth" of the course, will affect the amount
of writing expected at this level of development. Many times
Course Developers are shown a technical procedure
and asked to build a course around it. Because this involves
technical writing, it behooves the Course Developer to have
strong language skills. |
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Tight Writing
-- Wordy writing slows down the training process for several reasons. One, because it
takes the student longer to read the material. Also, because wordy writing is boring; thus the training may have great graphics but lose the student because the writing is poor. Most people
want training to give them the facts quickly -- to get
to the point right away. This way, students (particularly employees) can
get finished and move onto other time-demanding tasks. This is where "tight writing" helps the trainer get the point across to the student in such a way that everyone is satisfied.
One
of the most common signs of wordy writing (the opposite of 'tight writing') is the overuse of
prepositional phrases, using "of the" and "in
the" when rearrangement of words in the sentence eliminates
these phrases, which reduces word count while conveying
the same message.
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Tight writing is unemcumbered by
"dead weight." It moves the reader along with efficiency
and grace. My favorite book on this subject is Write
Tight by William Brohaugh. Most style guides, writing
books and grammar texts contain chapters about eliminating
excess words and phrases. A good Technical Writer has years of experience "writing tight."
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| Technical
Editing |
| The Technical Editors' primary job is
to ensure that documents are suitable for their target audience, that they don't include superflous information and don't miss salient information. Technical Editing includes rewriting
text that may seem all right to the SME, CE, manager or developer, but would be confusing or misleading to a student. Thus, Technical Editing is a quality control job.
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The Three Cs
-- High-quality writing, whether for a manuscript or an online course,
is clear, concise, and complete.
- A clear document is characterized by direct,
unambiguous language.
- A concise document uses the minimum number
of words to convey a point.
- A complete document introduces all terms,
concepts, and procedures required for understanding a technology
and using it effectively.
Technical Editors read the instruction content as though
they know nothing of the subject. By putting themselves in the position of a new student, they can ascertain
if the text meets the clear, concise and complete standards expected of the training.
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| Editing Instruction Documentation
-- Editing course material written by an engineer, programmer,
developer or Content Expert quite often falls to the Instructional Designer / Course
Developer. Simple editing involves proofreading the content
for typing and spelling errors. But thorough Technical Editing involves not only adding clarity and ensuring the course material flows smoothly,
but also includes eliminating empty phrases that add nothing
of value to a sentence or paragraph. |
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| High school and college grammar
texts explain the rudiments of good writing and editing, as
do writing Style Guides. Many large companies develop their
own Style Guides, while other companies adopt an off-the-shelf
style guide. |
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To read more about Style Guides, click the button.
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| CE and Editor Interaction
-- Fixing blatant grammatical errors is generally appreciated
by the original writer. However, the suggestion for changing
awkward phrases or verbose explanations often needs to be backed
with solid explanation or specific style guide references to secure acceptance. |
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| Some CEs (developers, programmers,
etc.) know their writing needs to be tightened and adjusted
by Technical Writers/Editors. But some technical
people think their descriptions of products and services reflect
the way the material should be presented; therefore, they balk at the prospect that their writing is going to be altered. I suggest that
Technical Editors / Instructional Designers / Course Developers offer text change suggestions with humility
and trepidation until they know the original content writer
well enough to approach them more casually. |
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| Storyboards |
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Definition
-- A storyboard is an outline, or map, created for
multimedia production. Most people are familiar with storyboards created for cartoons, TV shows, or movies. But Storyboards are often used in creating online training, where storyboards contain instructions
and a description of the visual elements destined for inclusion in the course. Storyboards
help the Course Developer insert the right idea and the right graphics in the right
place at the right time.
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Development
-- Storyboards are developed during the design phase of the
course development process. Storyboards are usually a team effort,
containing input from SMEs, CEs, BAs, and stakeholders.
The storyboard then becomes the key for course development. The budget for online training is often determined by the storyboard.
For online courses, storyboards
should visually represent proposed screens. Complete storyboards
contain these elements:
· Identifier
for the screen or visual image
· A drawing
or screenshot of the visual image where it will appear
· Text of
any words that appear on the screen or any voice-over audio files
· Production
instructions, such as "fade to the next scene" or "link to
screen #401"
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| History
-- Storyboards have historically been
used as a graphic outline for films, television productions,
cartoons and other visual media. Some creative writers use storyboards
to visually identify the scenes and action of their stories. But these creative types are not the only ones who
can benefit from using a storyboard. Since a storyboard
is basically a map outlining the various components of the course
or production, and how the components relate to one another, anyone creating
any type of presentation can benefit from the storyboarding technique.
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| Online Help
-- Storyboards work well for building online Help systems. Good storyboard
development improves the efficiency of interaction between
the users and the information being presented. Online Help built
without a storyboard may contain good information, but it may
be disorganized or even cryptic, which generally frustrates or confuses the user. |
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| Wireframes |
| Definition
-- The Wireframe (or Web structure) built for a Web site or
online course graphically depicts the interconnectedness of
the site's pages. Wireframing helps Webmasters and Course Developers
construct sites and courses that perform exactly as intended.
Wireframing takes its name from the skeletal wires
that underlie sculptures and that continue to support the finished piece. |
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Click-through Possibilities
-- A wireframe is a skeletal rendering
of every click-through possibility in a Web site or an
online course. The wireframe's purpose is to maintain the
flow of logical functions by identifying all of the entry
and exit points that exist on every page.
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Because the wireframe guides every
design, information architecture, navigation, usability and
content consideration, the wireframe process begins with a
dialogue among developers, content experts, designers and
clients. Wireframing is done first, before a single line of
code or instruction is written.
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 Structure
-- Wireframes can be linear, hierarchical or mixed. In a linear
structure, users can only click from one page to the next
or to the previous page, like flipping pages of a book.
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hierarchical structure starts with a general topic
that includes links to more specific topics. Each specific
topic includes links to yet more specialized topics and so
on. With this structure, users can move easily from the general
to the specific and back.
A mixed structure includes
both linear and hierarchical structures, where the overall
structure is hierarchical and each level is linear.
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Click the button to view a sample Wireframe.
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| Wireframing vs. Storyboarding
-- Some Web site and online course owners and developers are
unaware of this powerful, cost-effective planning strategy. Some folks think that Wireframing is the same as Storyboarding. But
wireframing is actually the storyboard's parent technique. A
wireframe can provide structure for a storyboard. |
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| The distinction between a wireframe
and a storyboard is critical. Wireframing defines the What
of the creative process while storyboarding tackles the How.
In other words, "What is" preceeds "How to." This distinction
can be reduced to "What you want to accomplish and how you want
to do it." |
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