Designing Accessible Web Based Courseware with Authoring Tools

Creation of Web based courseware has become easier and quicker, particularly, for non-Web experts with the advent of authoring software which allows authors to put together resources without requiring to learn HTML. However, there are problems regarding the accessibility of resources produced by such software, and this article discusses the nature of these problems and how they can be overcome.

Sloan, David. TechDis (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Designing Better Instructional Documents  

Demonstrates how principles of print design and visual literacy can improve the usability of course handouts.

Codone, Susan K. Intercom (2004). Articles>Education>Document Design

Designing Design Education

Designers today are involved in the development and design of new products and their interactions, software, virtual identities, web sites, strategic plans, wearable computers, digital libraries, games, and interactive exhibitions. The old monikers of graphic and industrial design aren't descriptive of the new fields of practice and research that are being explored today. These disciplines in fact have come to realize that they do not own the word `design.' The activity of design, as described by Simon (1969), is being practiced by a host of disciplines that include engineering, computer science, information systems, professional writing, and business. We encounter job titles such as software design, engineering design, human-computer interaction design, and systems design, to name a few. If design is so pervasive, who, then, is a designer and how is s/he educated?

Boyarski, Daniel. SIGCHI Bulletin (1998). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Assessment

Designing for Motivation and Usability in a Museum-Based Multi-User Virtual Environment  

This National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research project is creating and evaluating graphical multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) that use digitized museum resources to enhance middle school students' motivation and learning about science and its impacts on society. MUVEs enable multiple simultaneous participants to access virtual contexts, to interact with digital artifacts, to represent themselves through “avatars,” to communicate with other participants and with computer-based agents, and to enact collaborative learning activities of various types. Initially, MUVEs were based only on textual descriptions); now, many MUVEs are graphical in nature, or use graphics to enhance textual descriptions. Our project's educational environments are extending current MUVE capabilities in order to study the science learning potential of immersive simulations, interactive virtual museum exhibits, and 'participatory' historical situations (http://www.virtual.gmu.edu/muvees/). To accomplish this, we have built our own MUVE shell based on the Sense8 WorldToolKit (http://www.sense8.com/).

Dede, Chris, Diane Ketelhut and Kevin Ruess. Harvard University (2000). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Usability

Designing Institutional Space to Bridge Institutional Divides    

Professional/technical writing has long been an effective curricular site for off-campus outreach. Especially compared to other humanities' disciplines (not that that category provides any stiff competition), professional/technical writing has emphasized practical application and liaison between the university and business/industry. Two of the chief reasons I am attracted to this field are its pragmatic orientation and its focus on writing-in-the-world.

Porter, James E. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Business Communication

The Desirability Paradox in the Effects of Media Literacy Training    

This study examines a paradox in findings regarding the effects of media literacy training on adolescents' decision making about tobacco use. Recent experiments have found that media literacy training successfully reduced participants' beliefs associated with risky behavior, whereas at the same time, their positive affect toward individuals portrayed in advertising increased. Study results confirm the hypothesis that media literacy training changes the way individuals think about the desirability of portrayals in the media. Although desirability usually represents individuals' affect toward portrayals, reports gathered after media literacy training also appear to reflect participants' increased awareness of the efforts made by advertisers to produce attractive portrayals designed to sell products and services. This awareness reduces or eliminates the impact that positive affect otherwise would have on decision making. Because this analysis suggests that individuals may respond to survey questions differently depending on their level of skill or involvement, the results raise important issues regarding issues of reliability and validity that may extend well beyond tests of this theoretical model or particular evaluation.

Austin, Erica Weintraub, Bruce E. Pinkleton and Ruth Patterson Funabiki. Communication Research (2007). Articles>Education>Scientific Communication>Risk Communication

Determining Constraints for e-Learning

One of the challenges of starting an e-learning are the constraints. If you don’t uncover them before you begin a project and choose software, the issues can come back to haunt you. Following are questions you can ask to determine the constraints you'll need to address when implementing e-learning in your organization. You might need to ask additional questions, but these should give you a good start.

Carliner, Saul. Saul Carliner Studio (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Developing and Assessing Oral Communication Competence

The importance of oral presentations in professional environments related to Computer Science is unquestionable. Therefore, oral and writing skills are included in the set of competences to be developed by students through the application of recent academic initiatives for Computer Science degrees in an international context. This article describes activities performed at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid aimed at the development of presentation skills in students. This initiative is based on the application of learning activities in combination with the delivery of different presentations that the students themselves evaluate. Results show a significant competence improvement and very satisfactory acceptance results from the students.

Garcia, Angel, Fernando Paniagua, Juan Miguel Gomez and Ricardo Colomo. International Journal for Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Education>Presentations>Assessment

Developing Industrial Cases For Technical Writing on Campus  

At the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the World's Engineering Congress met and included special section, 'Division E, Engineering Education.' This division was the seed for The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, and one paper delivered in the section was 'Training of Students in Technical Literary Work,' evidencing early concern about engineers' education in technical writing. But concern alone did not solve the problem. Two decades later Edward D. Sabine, a terminal engineer, complained that most college graduated engineers could not even write a decent letter. And in the same year F. W. Springer, a professor of electrical engineering, spoke of the need for teaching 'engineering-English.' Fifty years ago Hale Sutherland, a professor of Civil Engineering, described how Case School of Applied Science had instituted a two-course, technical writing requirement to overcome 'the engineer's ancient weakness, his inability to speak and write effectively.' One approach to solving this problem has been cooperation. Seventy years ago C. W. Park wrote an article about the cooperative program at the University of Cincinnati, in which members of the Engineering and English Departments worked together to promote better writing; obviously the idea of teaming up is hardly new. Thirty years ago The Journal of Engineering Education published another description of a cooperative effort and just five years ago devoted an entire issue to technical writing. The need for teaching engineers to write and the difficulties in accomplishing the objective even cooperatively have been recognized for almost a century; we are still grappling with the problem.

Mair, David and John Radovich. JAC (1985). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

Development of an English for Specific Purposes

The University of Aizu Technical Writing course was established to help computer science majors develop writing skills needed for their academic and future career activities. The course was first organized and presented for the 1994 school year and has been undergoing continued evaluation and alteration. During the first two years, the course was presented in the two sophomore terms using courseware project team developed lesson plans and handouts. In the first year, these lesson plans and handouts were supplemented with a technical writing textbook and handbook. By the third year, a draft of the University of Aizu's Technical Writing 1 Handbook served as the text material for the first term of the course. However, the second term of the course was moved to the senior year to provide students needed guidance and assistance in the planning and writing of their graduation research reports. The finalized version of the University of Aizu's Technical Writing 1 Handbook will be published prior to the 1997 school year, and a Technical Writing 2 Handbook which will be designed around the university's research report format and requirements is planned for the 1998 school year.

Izzo, John. Internet TESL Journal, The. Articles>Education>Regional>Japan

Dichotomy, Consubstantiality, Technical Writing, Literary Theory: The Double Orthodox Curse  

Where are the departments that are truly strong at the extremes of literature and technical writing, yet have a Rogerian discussion of the differences going on? The sort of department I mean would offer work in technical and professional writing comparable to that at Rensselaer or Carnegie Mellon and literary theory comparable to that at Duke or Berkeley. Am I wrong in assuming that technical writers can and do move all the way from one extreme to the other, while literature professors do not see themselves either at an extreme or as part of any sort of continuum that would, if followed far enough, reach to the writing of software documentation for a process control?

Neel, Jasper. JAC (1992). Articles>Education>TC

Digital Language and Literacy: An Online Course Design Learning Community  

This paper overviews a discipline-specific educational technology assistance program titled Digital Language and Literacy, which links technologically literate graduate students in English with faculty developing online courses for the first time. Such models not only help with online course design but also help to establish technological and pedagogical learning communities among current and future faculty.

Blair, Kristine L. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Online>Case Studies

Digital Literac(ies), Digital Discourses, and Communities of Practice: Literacy Practices in Virtual Environments  

The first thing you notice about the classroom is its aural texture—not quite silent, but very quiet—just a staccato, percussive clicking of fingers on keyboards rapidly typing.

Eyman, Douglas. Michigan State University (2005). Articles>Education

Dirty Battles in the Trench: Is It Wise to Use Real Materials for Editing in a Technical Writing Class?  

The use of real materials in a technical writing class involves both advantages and drawbacks. Use of real materials makes the class relate well to the work environment, improves self-esteem, critical thinking, and student motivation. Drawbacks include the problem of finding materials, a lack of course continuity, a lessening of use of the class text, and legal implications. Overall, the use of real materials for classroom editing is recommended.

Stibravy, John A. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

Disciplinary Boundaries: Where (and How) Should Usability Testing Be Taught?    

With the rapid rise of interest in usability testing, especially with the demise of a daily increasing number of dotcom companies (and the headlines resulting from the 'butterfly ballot'), the question arises as to where (and how) a course in usability testing should be taught. When I first started teaching a graduate course in technical and professional communication, I created it to focus on documentation issues and to educate future technical communicators about the role they could play in testing and inadvocating usability testing for their products. The argument went something like this: who better than the technical communicators--the user advocates–to initiate usability testing within organizations. What better place to start than with the documentation?

Barnum, Carol M. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Usability

Discovering the Pedagogical Paradigm Shift in Technical Writing  

For my dissertation, I am analyzing technical writing textbooks from the early 1900s to the present to determine whether technical writing pedagogy has undergone or is undergoing a paradigm shift. When I began this study, my hypothesis was that technical writing pedagogy, like composition and rhetoric pedagogy, has shifted from the product orientation to the process orientation. Textbooks that are product oriented emphasize the study of examples or models, and textbooks that are process oriented emphasize the study of the writing process. Now that I have completed my study and am in the process of analyzing the results, my hypothesis is that technical writing pedagogy shifted from a product orientation to a combined product and process orientation.

Jeansonne, Jerold. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

A Discussion and Annotated Bibliography of Research on the Use of Style Checkers in the Computer-Assisted Writing Classroom  

Style checkers are software programs designed as writing tools. Despite their popularity in both academic and industrial settings, the effectiveness and advisability of using the technology is still unproven. A main issue is the ability of users to determine whether the program's suggestions are useful and to ignore inappropriate advice. Freshmen composition students, beginning technical writing students, and advanced technical writing students were asked to mark all suggestions made by RightWriter 4.0 as 'useful,' 'wrong,' or 'ignored.' Results show that all students ignored approximately 50% of the suggestions; however, freshman writers perceived a larger percentage of the suggestions that they ignored to be wrong rather than just not useful.

Moosally, Michelle J. and Roland D. Nerd. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Research>Education>Software

Disrupting the Computer Lab(oratory): Names, Metaphors, and the Wireless Writing Classroom  

Considers metaphors that may be created or carried over from wired, face-to-face, and non-academic experience as names for wireless writing places. Ultimately, it suggests that names for wireless sites have the potential to enhance writing instruction’s status on campus and provides a naming heuristic for those seeking to accommodate local complexities.

Zoetewey, Meredith W. Kairos (2004). Articles>Education>Wireless Web>Tropes

The Distance Learning Experience: Developing, Transmitting and Participating in Courses Delivered at a Distance  

Distance education comes in all shapes and sizes. Videotaping led to satellite and videoconferencing. Today, web-based videostreaming is gaining popularity in many areas. Back in 1995, a team from Rensselaer and IBM met to discuss opportunities to deliver leading edge user interface design education via distance delivery methods. Join our panel discussion to hear how this program has progressed, and how Rensselaer’s Professional and Distance Education Program continues to work directly with its customers to deliver leading edge distance education.

Brauneis, David, Kim Scalzo and David Hans. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Education>Online>Videoconferencing

Distance Learning: One Student's Perspective  

A teacher of technical writing relates her experiences, both positive and negative, as a student in a virtual classroom. Deming's discussion is a helpful preview for anyone curious about online courses.

Deming, Lynn H. Intercom (2000). Articles>Education>Online

Do Technical Writers Need a Help Applications Course?  

Weber State University is in the process of developing a major in Professional & Technical Writing (PTW). Currently, students enroll as English majors with an Emphasis in PTW, which consists of four courses in PTW that students take in addition to other English courses. The minor consists of the same PTW courses plus two interdisciplinary classes, which are determined in consultation with an advisor. The problem is that students who wish to do PTW must take the same number of literature classes as other English majors. Often they do not receive instruction in document design, other than a cursory treatment in the service course. A full major would better prepare students to enter the job market without losing connections to critical theory and humanistic approaches to texts-connections they receive in English Department courses.

McShane, Becky Jo. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Documentation>Help

Do We Know Who We Are and Where We Belong? Challenge in the Midst of Change    

Over the past few years, we have been re-thinking the focus and direction of the graduate program in technical and science communication at Drexel University. At the same time, we are also dealing with a disciplinary change, as we have split from our long-time home in the Department of Humanities and Communication and formed a new Department of Culture and Communication with our colleagues from sociology and anthropology.

Friedlander, Alexander. CPTSC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Graduate

Doc, I've Been Looking at Some Web Sites--So What Should I Believe?  

Because anyone, from nationally renowned physicians to your next-door neighbor, can post health information online, readers need to be selective when taking advice from medical web sites. Several non-profit and government agencies have developed guidelines to help readers as they evaluate health and medical information online. Some researchers have also begun to study the ways that readers actually judge the credibility of web sites. Recommendations from heuristic guidelines and recent empirical research have been distilled into a list of guidelines for writers and editors.

Freeman, Krisandra S. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Education>Biomedical>Online

Doctoral-Level Graduates in Professional, Technical, and Scientific Communication 1995–-2000: A Profile    

Reports the results of survey research profiling 1995–2000 doctoral graduates in professional, technical, and scientific communication. Explores implications for recent graduates, prospective doctoral students, faculty, and administrators in the field.

Cargile Cook, Kelli, Charlotte Thralls and Mark Zachry. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Education>Graduate>PhD

Documentation Methods for AACSB Learning Assurances  

In 2003, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) redefined their accreditation and reaffirmation standards to move from a traditional outcome-based system to a systematic process-based review. Documentation is required to assure student learning in several core areas, including communication. This paper outlines the data collection procedures and documentation methods used to document one university’s business communication learning assurances.

Gueldenzoph, Lisa E. Association for Business Communication (2008). Articles>Documentation>Education>Business Communication