#14272
Research in visual design has demonstrated that tables are “the best way to show exact numerical values” when the reader needs to compare those values. In other cases, when comparison of exact numbers is not vital, other visuals may be more appropriate. Effective professional communicators analyze their audience’s need for the data and the purpose of the visual to determine the best presentation.
Burnett, Rebecca E. Thomson (2001). Academic>Course Materials>Graphic Design
#10871
After you've tested the in-class exercises, polished the presentation materials, printed the handouts and workbooks, and created the data files for class, are you ready to hand over the course to an instructor? Not yet. You have one more thing to do before calling your course finished: Create the instructor kit. An instructor kit often differentiates a good course from an exceptional course. It is more than a pretty package or a finishing touch. It is an integral part of any training course that you must hand off to an instructor. The instructor kit's ultimate goal is to increase the quality of the students' experience, by helping the instructor to assimilate, set up, and deliver your course.
Rice, William H. IV. WilliamRice.com (2000). Academic>Course Materials
#19066
Our discussion will consider the ways in which we conceptualized an engineering enterprise initiative’s 'communication component,' alternate ways in which it could be conceptualized, and our efforts to maintain pedagogical and programmatic integrity while addressing the very practical needs of this ABET-driven curricula change. We feel that these questions must be addressed if we are to truly participate in a 'systemic change' in engineering education and its integral communication challenges.
Aller, Betsy and M. Sean Clancey. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>Assessment>Engineering
#26667
The Internet has become an immensely pervasive and powerful form of communication, one that despite its quick rise has yet to reach most of the world's population. This class is a survey that will trace the Internet's history, reception, audience, industries, rhetorics, fictional and filmic narratives, and potential as a purveyor and transmitter of culture and values. We will focus on the intersections between Internet and old media culture, popular culture, and critical theories of identity.
Nakamura, Lisa. University of Wisconsin (2005). Academic>Courses>Communication
#10777
Cross-Referencing: Using MLA Format 
This presentation teaches your students the purposes of MLA documentation, as well as methods for using parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page. This presentation is an important addition for the beginning of a research unit in a humanities course or any assignment that requires MLA documentation.
Liethen, Jennifer Kunka. Purdue University. Academic>Course Materials
#19228
Culturally Sensitive Community Service
A group in your class has decided to help a local homeless shelter get some computers to assist people in their job searches. Now you must approach several local charities and businesses and ask for money for the project. Begin by compiling an audience profile (see page 32) on the student body. Then write a PowerPoint proposal that persuades the audience to support your project. Deliver it to your classmates as a stand-in audience. Make sure you state the need clearly, address issues of mutual concern, support any claims with evidence, and avoid violating any constraints.
Lannon, John M. Pearson Education (2003). Academic>Course Materials
#15039
David C. Leonard Scholarship for Technical Communication 
The Society for Technical Communication is a professional organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication--it is the largest organization of its type in the world with over 25,000 members. The STC Atlanta chapter consists of 590+ members from the Atlanta metro area. Our members work in various industries, including software development, medical, insurance, engineering, telephony, and scientific research. Although we work in different technical areas, our common cause is making technical information accessible for those who need it. Whether we are writing user manuals, designing Web sites, developing online help, or editing a scientific article, we try to use the basic tools of communication--language, design, and technology--to help the audience use the information in the most advantageous way. The David C. Leonard Scholarship for Technical Communication was created to honor Dr. David C. Leonard, a long-time member of the STC Atlanta chapter. Dr. Leonard was instrumental in revitalizing the Atlanta chapter in the early 1980’s. He was chapter president in 1992-93. His innovative approach to technical communication kept him on the cutting-edge of technology. His belief that technical communication was an important field of study lead to a life of teaching and championing technical communication as a profession worthy to be pursued by students in colleges and universities.
#13822
Deafened to Their Demands: An Ethnographic Study of Accommodation 
After a semester of working with the population of Deaf students on a larger southwestern, suburban University campus, it became clear that the institution would not be able to provide reasonable accommodations requested by deaf students. As I witnessed students, rightfully fighting for reasonable accommodations (as outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act), I saw individuals both inside and outside the institutional structures attempt change only to find themselves rebuffed. The institution itself was not able to accommodate the reasonable and lawful demands of the deaf population of students at the university, but interestingly the efforts of reformers inside the institution were similarly unable to enact significant change. The institution was unable to hear the pleas of its students but was equally unable to accommodate the demands of members of the administration seeking to provide services to these students.
Salvo, Michael J. Kairos (2002). Academic>Accessibility>Education
#29828
Over a period of 10 years, we have developed a sustainable process of online portfolio assessment that demonstrates both reliability and validity, using both qualitative and quantitative measures. The sustainable cycle is that, each semester, we assess a random sampling of the students' work that they have posted, as per our instructions, in an online portfolio. During the reading, the faculty score the documents for 11 variables, including writing, content, audience awareness, and document design. We achieved validity by a modified online Delphi that led to a redefinition of the construct of technical communication itself; we achieved reliability by adjudication resulting in adjacent scores. The results of our assessment meet the requirements of ABET and result in a continual cycle of improvement for our technical communication curriculum. Results from three semesters show an improving correlation between the course grade and the overall, holistic portfolio score.
Johnson, Carol Siri. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Academic>Portfolios>TC>Online
#19088
If I choose to walk or ride a bicycle to work in the morning, will I be perceived as an anti-technology Luddite because I have resisted driving my car? Probably not. In fact, I might be seen as someone who is environmentally aware and health conscious. When it comes to information technology, however, such resistance is seen quite differently.
Johnson, Robert R. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>Technology
#14592
Linked to this page are 6 high-school-level exercises that teach (through worked and scaffolded examples) how to write good technical descriptions. Also included is a set of description-writing guidelines on which these exercises depend. The summary table below links to two versions of each exercise: * A plain version suitable for classroom use as is, and * An annotated version that: * spells out the goal of each exercise and the writing issues that it addresses, * compares the exercise with others in this set, * suggests effective, relevant teaching strategies, as well as extended activities, and * notes the specific 1998 California English-Language Arts content standard(s) that the exercise most strongly supports.
Girill, T.R. STC East Bay (1999). Academic>Course Materials>Writing
#18156
For this project, you'll create a style guide for at least two markedly different technical publications. Your style guide will be used by technical writers on your documentation team to get these publications in conformance with each other, as well as other publication.
Rogers, Will. Illuminati Online (2002). Academic>Course Materials>Style Guides
#21037
Designing Manuals and Handbooks
This course is designed to complete a trilogy of courses that explore challenges and issues relevant to information design. In this case, the course focuses on the design of instructional documents.
Williamson, William J. University of Northern Iowa (2003). Academic>Courses>Documentation
#20062
Designing Universally Accessible WWW Resources for People with Disabilities
This course is designed for web content developers to learn about the disability access issues faced by people with disabilities in using the web and how web resources can be designed to improve accessibility. The course provides a foundation on how people with disabilities access information on the web using mainstream browsers and specialized assistive technologies like speech renderings. Participants will learn about the two main standards for web accessibility, the W3C Web Content Accessibility Standards and the Section 508 requirements for web materials. The strengths and weaknesses of different evaluation and repair tools will be presented to help participants understand how to use the available tools to evaluate and repair their web resources. Participants will learn about common HTML accessibility problems, and HTML and CSS techniques that can be used to improve accessibility. Captioning of multimedia materials is also covered for Microsoft Media Player, Real Player and Quicktime, and the accessibility of non-W3C technologies like PDF and Flash will also be discussed.
University of Illinois (2002). Academic>Courses>Accessibility>Web Design
#22474
Designing Visual Aids for a Presentation
In addition to preparing and reading documents, professionals spend much of their time communicating their ideas orally. These oral exchanges take many forms—from informal telephone conversations to speeches in front of large audiences. During their careers, most professionals are required to give formal presentations—often they must give presentations on a regular basis.
Burnett, Rebecca E. Thomson (2001). Academic>Course Materials>Presentations>Visual Rhetoric
#10765
An outline is: a logical, general description; aschematic summary; an organizational pattern; a visual and conceptual design of your writing. An outline reflects logical thinking and clear classification.
Purdue University (1997). Academic>Writing
#25445
Developing Instructional Materials
This is a course in the process and techniques used in the technical communication profession for developing and delivering instructional materials for software: computer applications programs. Instructional materials includes all forms of manuals, procedures, step-by-step, tutorials, getting started, booklets, online help, performance support, Wizards, and other methods of supporting the work of software end users. This course also represents a culmination of preparation for professional work. In this course we explore both professional issues and practical issues with the intention of giving you the chance to apply principles to representative projects.
Barker, Thomas. Texas Tech University (2004). Academic>Courses>Instructional Design
#25880
This course will investigate how the digital challenges our perceptions of what we have come to call literacy (and thus, composition). Is literacy a relevant term for digital production, or do we need a new term to describe the process of acquiring and producing knowledge?
Rice, Jeff. Wayne State University (2005). Academic>Courses>Literacy>Online
#19080
Directing Growth and Growing Directors: Developing Leaders for Technical Communication Programs
Designing and directing technical communication programs requires special skills. Clearly faculty taking on these roles must be well-versed in the scholarship of the discipline. But they face additional challenges not often faced by other department chairs or program directors, especially those in liberal arts disciplines. Here’s a brief overview of some of these challenges.
Hansen, Craig. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>WPA
#19243
Disability Access To Virtual Learning Environments
The purpose of this study by Staffordshire University was to identify problems encountered by disabled students in using Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) and to identify solutions where possible, making the appropriate recommendations to improve accessibility. The work done in compiling the report was underpinned by Staffordshire University’s commitment to, and contributes to the development of, a learning and teaching strategy called “Building a Learning Community [1]” (which is detailed in this report).
Stiles, Mark J. TechDis (2003). Academic>Accessibility>Education>Online
#32037
DITA, DocBook and the Art of the Document
Both the DITA and the DocBook specification are quite alive and well in organizations, and each is evolving into its own distinct application niches, with DITA looking to be turning into the default standard for large scale enterprises, while DocBook works more effectively at the small to intermediate level. What’s perhaps more interesting is the Microsoft Word, even with support for XML as provided by OOXML, is not making as much of an inroad in the structured document market, in great part because it is fairly difficult to constrain people’s use of the word-processing program to a limited, finite subset of potential styles.
Cagle, Kurt. XML.com (2008). Academic>Documentation>DocBook>DITA
#20915
Diversity in US Workplace Communication
This course will increase your understanding of the ways in which traditional communication pattern in the workplace enrich or diminish us and empower or marginalize women, older workers, workers with disabilities, racial and ethnic groups and other minorities, and labor.
Locker, Kitty O. Ohio State University, The. Academic>Courses>Discrimination>Workplace
#10385
Doctoral Research in Technical, Scientific and Business Communication, 1989-1998 
This article is an update of the article by Rebecca S. Kelly and me in an earlier issue of Technical Communication (Rainey & Kelly 1992). My purpose here is the same as we had then: …we focus on making known the wide variety of doctoral research in professional communication emanating from many academic institutions. Specifically, we look at doctoral research in professional communication with a view to learning what academic institutions sponsor it, what methods researchers employ, and what topics doctoral candidates explore. (553) In this article, I use 'professional communication' to mean technical, scientific, and business communication.) In what follows, I first summarize the findings of this current search and then discuss the method of collecting information. Next, I identify the academic institutions that have doctoral programs in technical, scientific, and business communication, what methodologies the researchers use, and what topics they have researched in the period since 1989.
Rainey, Kenneth T. Technical Communication Online (1999). Academic>Education>Graduate>History
#23532
This course provides technical communicators with a practical and theoretical overview of document design. We will begin with examinations of document design theories and conventions coming from graphic artists, usability experts, cognitive psychologists, and technical communication scholars, and then critique those theories and conventions as we apply them to the analysis and creation of technical documents. In the process, we will problematize modernist expediency and question long-held assumptions.
Clark, Dave. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2003). Academic>Courses>Document Design
#14565
This course will teach you to * identify and discuss principles of reading comprehension, cognitive psychology, human factors, and graphic design that apply to technical documents * analyze and evaluate the design of existing documents and recommend appropriate revisions * design and test documents for maximum usability
Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (2002). Academic>Courses>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric
