Teaching Documentation Writing: What Else Students--and Instructors--Should Know    

Discusses knowledge, problem-solving strategies, and desktop publishing skills students need to learn about documentation writing. Describes a course that provides these skills. Also applies to in-house training programs.

Boiarsky, Carolyn and Michael Dobberstein. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Education>Documentation>Technical Writing

Teaching Documentation Writing: What Else Students—and Instructors—Should Know    

A course in computer documentation writing needs to provide instruction in problem-solving skills as well as help students learn to transfer their knowledge and processes from one task to another if it is to truly prepare students for working in the constantly-changing environment of the computer field. Purdue University Calumet has developed a unique, complex course that, in addition to providing instruction in the conventions and the rhetorical context in which manuals are written, provides students with the content and procedural knowledge, problem-solving strategies, and desktop publishing skills they need to adapt to the evolving nature of this field.

Boiarsky, Carolyn and Michael Dobberstein. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Education>Writing