Engaging Learners with Various Training Methods

While preparing these workshops, I knew that I would be addressing people from many backgrounds. My own background is in education. In pursuing my Master's program in Instructional Technology, I began working on a distance education project for special educators. It was my first introduction to Web accessibility. I eventually came to work at WebAIM where Web accessibility has become my primary interest. Currently, I am coordinating WebAIM's K-12 education initiative. My path to Web accessibility is very unique, as is yours. I would love to hear why you are here learning how to become a better accessibility trainer.

WebAIM (2001). Articles>Education>Accessibility

Engineers at Work Developing Communication Skills for Professional Practice  

The reviews of engineering education carried out in the USA, Canada and Australia have highlighted the importance of developing the communication skills of engineering students. An innovative curriculum has been developed at the University of Technology, Sydney (Australia) to prepare students for effective professional practice. The program has drawn on developments in writing studies and research into workplace practice. A core subject in Engineering Communication acts as a ‘hub’ for a Communication System which extends the development of communication abilities to staff, practitioners and self-directed learners.

McGregor, Helen. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Education>Engineering

English Department Service Courses

The service curricula in this survey include institution-wide general education courses, English courses required in addition to institution-wide general education courses for preprofessional students (those pursuing four-year or longer non-arts and sciences degrees), and other specialized preprofessional English courses, such as technical writing.

Fontane, Marilyn Stall. ADE Bulletin (1994). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

English Professors as Technical Writers: Experience is The Best Teacher

The future of the English curriculum is being argued and discussed in academic settings across the country. Students, more and more, seek courses of study that will lead directly to jobs. The buzzword is 'relevance.' The bottom line is 'big bucks.'

Barnum, Carol M. ADE Bulletin (1983). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

Enhancing Competence, Cooperation, and Confidence by Strengthening Communication Skills of Diverse Workers  

This article explains how strengthening communication skills of our diverse workers could enhance competence, cooperation, and confidence in the workplace. A study focusing on language barriers was used to emphasize how variations in communication can, if not handled properly, escalate into conflicts in the workplace. Findings from the study that negatively affect productivity: lack of adequate training, lack of awareness of the culture of diverse groups and the perception that some were being subjected to racism and stereotypes are discussed.

Nealy, Chynette and Amiso George. Association for Business Communication (2004). Careers>Business Communication>Discrimination>Education

Environmental Problem-Solving in Communication Courses  

Describes how teachers of communication courses can use local environmental controversies to stimulate creative thinking and illustrate proper research methods.

Griggs, Karen. Intercom (2001). Articles>Education>Environmental

EPSScentral: Online Learning

Articles about emerging trends in online learning that may affect the design and development to electronic performance support systems.

EPSScentral. Articles>Education>Online>EPSS

EqWorld: The World of Mathematical Equations

Information about various classes of algebraic, ordinary differential, partial differential (mathematical physics), integral, and other mathematical equations. It also outlines some methods for solving equations, includes interesting articles, gives links to mathematical websites, lists useful handbooks, textbooks, and monographs, and refers to scientific publishers, journals, etc.

Polyanin, Andrei. Russian Academy of Sciences (2004). Resources>Education>Academic>Mathematics

The Erasure of the Sentence  

This article examines the sentence-based pedagogies that arose in composition during the 1960s and 1970s—the generative rhetoric of Francis Christensen, imitation exercises, and sentence-combining—and attempts to discern why these three pedagogies have been so completely elided within contemporary composition studies. The usefulness of these sentence-based rhetorics was never disproved, but a growing wave of anti-formalism, anti-behaviorism, and anti-empiricism within English-based composition studies after 1980 doomed them to a marginality under which they still exist today. The result of this erasure of sentence pedagogies is a culture of writing instruction that has very little to do with or to say about the sentence outside of a purely grammatical discourse.

Connors, Robert J. CCC (2000). Articles>Education>Writing

Essential Elements of a Writing Course Proposal

At some point in their careers, many writers may teach writing courses, either before a 'live' classroom audience or, these days, online. But how does a new teacher develop that first course proposal? What elements should go into it?

Dreifus, Erika. Klariti (2005). Articles>Education>Proposals>Writing

Ethics, Critical Thinking, and Professional Communication Pedagogy    

Critical thinking pedagogy offers a supportive environment for teaching ethics in the professional communication classroom. Four important aspects of critical thinking which particularly encourage ethical thought and behavior are identifying and questioning assumptions, seeking a multiplicity of voices and alternatives on a subject, making connections, and fostering active involvement. Focusing on these behaviors allows an ongoing incorporation of ethics into many different aspects of the classroom.

Kienzler, Donna S. Technical Communication Quarterly (2001). Articles>Education>Ethics>Methods

The European Network of Science Communication Teachers

The project brought together leading institutions and individuals involved in science communication teaching from across Europe, to exchange ideas on good practice in teaching.

ENSCOT. Organizations>Education>Scientific Communication

Evaluating Distance Learning in Graduate Programs: Ensuring Rigorous, Rewarding Professional Education

Internet-based distance learning programs make it possible for technical communicators located anywhere in the world to participate in graduate courses in their field. But are these graduate programs as rigorous as those offered through traditional educational venues? Do they provide opportunities for participants to learn from professors and their fellow students that are as rewarding as those provided in traditional graduate seminars? This paper reports the responses of students in two such classes to a series of questions probing these issues, and offers conclusions and recommendations that may help others who plan such courses to structure them more effectively.

Hayhoe, George F. IEEE PCS (1998). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Evaluating Online Tutorials on Software Applications

Nowadays, there are a lot of software applications designed to meet the need of end users to simplify their work. These software applications usually come with supporting tools to help users with system setup and requirements, installation guides, troubleshooting, or getting-started tutorials. When looking for more information on a specific topic or “how to” on a software application, users usually tend to look first on the manufacturer’s Web site. In reality, however, the result doesn’t always answer our questions, because the manufacturer may have a wide variety of tutorials that may confuse us, the manufacturer’s tutorials may be intended for experienced users, or tutorials may be incomplete because the manufacturer only goes through the basics of the software application.

Lumenta, Agnes. Techniques (2003). Articles>Education>Tutorials>Online

Evaluating Student-Created Hypertexts: A Map  

In this paper I offer thumbnail sketches for four methods of assessing student work in computer-mediated composition courses.

Whithaus, Carl. Kairos (2001). Articles>Education>Hypertext

Evaluating Training Workshops in a Writing Across the Curriculum Program: Method and Analysis    

Program directors could use data from protocols and interviews to identify 'natural sources of resistance', and 'translation and follow-up problems'.

Blakeslee, Ann M., John R. Hayes and Richard Young. LLAD (2002). Articles>Education>Writing>Assessment

Evaluating Writing Programs: What an Outside Evaluator Looks For  

In many colleges, evaluation remains an in-house affair. But...

Lindemann, Erika. Council of Writing Program Administrators, The (1979). Articles>Education>Assessment

Evaluation of Training Programs in Technical Communication  

To remain viable in this economy, executives and administrators must produce efficiently and hence must assure sound evaluation of training programs in technical communication. These decision-makers can benefit from the insights of professional evaluators of educational programs so as to establish goals, secure resources, review the activities, and report results. Described and then illustrated here is the CIPP-model to review the activities, that is, the contexts, input, processes, and products. Well-done evaluations lift the level of communication skills, the morale of the students and faculty, and the organization’s products.

Battle, Mary V. STC Proceedings (1993). Presentations>Education>Assessment

Examples: WAI Web Content Accessibility Curriculum

Provides details or examples of one or more techniques that are associated with a particular checkpoint. Where possible, the examples are actually coded so that you will see how that particular technique displays or renders on your browser or user agent. In most cases, the markup that creates the 'live' example is also provided (although you can also 'View Source' to get the exact coding). Where necessary, some text is included to explain what is 'supposed' to happen (for example, if an HTML 4 attribute is not widely supported yet), or for user of non-graphical or older browsers.

Letourneau, Chuck and Geoff Freed. W3C. Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Education

Expand Your Career Plan  

Your professional development and the ultimate success of your career depend upon you alone. If you don’t want to be viewed as 'just another doe writer,' broaden your career plan by expanding your talents into areas that are important to your organization's goals.

Henderson, D.L., Bonnie J. Davis and Genie Vidal. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Education>Continuing

Expanding Beyond a Cognitivist Framework: A Commentary on Martinez’s “Intentional Learning in an Intentional World”    

One of the looming challenges educators face today is understanding how student diversity and uniqueness impacts the complex process of learning. Affective and conative factors are increasingly examined as we seek to understand how to teach and support the whole learner. The goal is to build theory that informs practice so that we may, as Martinez argues, move beyond “fuzzy, one-size-fi tsall [instructional] solutions” to instruction that is designed to match individual learning needs. Factors such as motivation, self-effi cacy, learning styles, and emotional intelligence have become increasingly common terms in educational research as we seek to defi ne affective and conative variables that impact the learning process as well as design of instruction. However, as with much of educational research, there are a vast number of complex, interrelated variables to consider and no one easy solution.

Kirkley, Jamie and Thomas Duffy. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Education>TC>Cognitive Psychology

Expanding Our Borders to New Sites of Practice  

Vital academic programs have a component in practice and an obvious connection of research and theory to the undergraduate classroom. This position (not a truth) could explain, in part, the growth of technical communication as an academic discipline over the past two decades while the study of literature, often in the same department, has declined.

Rude, Carolyn D. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC

Expanding the Borders of Our Curriculum to Include Communities of Practice  

What does the profession look like today? We see writers who specialize in running usability tests; writers who work with XML and database tools to manage single content sources for multiple delivery vehicles; writers who develop content and then design the layout of that content for every kind of print and electronic media, writers who grab the latest hot authoring tool and produce Web-based customer support. And the list could go on and on. The common denominator is writing skills.

Harner, Sandi. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC