online course

[Ned Bedinger]

David Hailey wrote:
>  Please forgive my intrusion, but I have a question for you.
> 
> Typically, our online master's courses are only open to matriculated graduate students.  This summer, however, we are producing an 8-week, online workshop and making it open to working, technical communicators (this community).  Now, we haven't decided what the workshop will cover.  It will be technical and will be about digital media, but that's all.
> 
> I am looking for suggestions before we make our decision.  What do you think would be an important topic?  The workshop might address usability, XML programming, or whatever you think might be valuable to technical communicators.


The advice about not shopping for groceries when you're hungry probably 
applies to requests for training too.  But here goes:

My antennae would twitch at a survey course in instructional design, or 
more specifically, instructional design for classroom and online 
delivery of internal corporate technical training.

As a tech writer, I'm offered opportunities to write training material, 
but I find that the requirements leave the design entirely up to me. I 
have a handle on instructional design, but it is topic that I feel like 
I'm forever playing catch-up with.

I know that the libraries are full of studies about how people learn, 
and what works for specific audiences, and design considerations for 
specific media, ...  But what I'd design for my own needs is a class 
that teaches a working understanding of the breadth and depth of this 
area. Ideally, I'd come away knowing the orderly path through topics in 
instructional design.

Thanks for asking.

Ned Bedinger
doc at edwordsmith.com