| Technical
Writing |
| Definition
-- The term "technical writing" covers everything from writing software user
guides to developing technical manuals for technicians. Technical writers
make reading technical documentation as painless but productive
as possible. Online course development
often requires writing about technology, for which technical writers are well trained. |
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To read more about technical writing, click the
button. |
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| Occupational Handbook Definition for Technical Writers -- STC (Society of Technical Communicators) worked for decades to get the US government to recognize Technical Writing as a distinct occupation. In 2010, the occupation "Technical Writers" was added to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. You can check out STC here: http://www.stc.org/about-stc |
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 Writing for Online Courses
-- Large course development teams might have their own technical writer on staff. But smaller course development departments usually don't and in these environments the instructional designer not only develops interactive courses, but is also responsible for the accuracy of the training text.
Many times technical writing is listed as a preferred skill for Instructional Designers and
Course Developers. Technical Writers often create online help
for software applications and online training. This makes sense because Help files include breaking
down technical information into basic terms.
Naturally, some projects require more writing by than
others. How the team works together, and how team members
envision the course development, can affect the amount
of writing expected. 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 poorly constructed material. Wordy or clumsy writing bores readers, causing their minds to wander. Even though the training has great graphics and slick animation, poor text construction causes poor retention and limited interest. Modern students
want training to get
to the point quickly. This way, students (particularly employees) can
get finished and move onto other time-demanding tasks. Tight writing helps trainers give pertinent facts to students in a manner that's easy to follow.
One
of the most common signs of wordy writing is the overuse of
prepositional phrases, like "of the" and "in
the"; rearrangement of wordy sentences eliminates many of
these phrases, which increases student interest and comprehension. Check out this article about eliminating prepositions. Most style guides and writing
books contain chapters about writing in the active tense and reducing unnecessary words and phrases. |
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| Technical
Editing |
| Technical Editing is a quality control job. A primary task for technical editors includes ensuring that technical training and technical documents are not only correct, but that they are suitable for their target audience. Technical editing includes rewriting
text that may seem all right to the SME, CE, manager or developer, but could be confusing or misleading to students in the target audience. |
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 The Three Cs
-- High-quality writing
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. Thorough technical editing involves ensuring that the course material flows smoothly and excising 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 of seeing their writing altered by an instructional designer. 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 length and complexity of 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 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 #12" |
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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
-- Wireframes graphically depict the interconnectedness of
the pages in a website or in a Web-based or computer-based course. 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 construction. |
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Click-through Possibilities
-- A wireframe is a skeletal rendering
of every click-through possibility in a website 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
design, information architecture, navigation, usability and
content consideration, the wireframe process begins with a
dialogue among developers, content experts, designers and
clients. Wireframing should be finished 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 website and online course owners and developers are
unaware of this powerful, cost-effective planning strategy. Although some people believe that wireframing is synonymous with storyboarding, it is not. Actually, wireframing could be considered 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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