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1) There are several distinct writing workflows out there that are
represented well by a core of tools. Thus, if you teach Quark, FrameMaker,
and Word, along with RoboHelp, you have given your students a strong leg up
in how to go about writing, even if the versions are one, two, or three out
of date.
Consider, if you are using FrameMaker 5.0 and Word 6.0, how significantly
has the workflow changed from then to FrameMaker 6 and Word 2002?
2) Adobe and other software manufacturers offer hefty academic pricing
discounts for students.
3) I don't think it out of line for a university to require a student buy
$400 worth of academic software, when usually students are required to spend
$80 per textbook for a class and many universities, including Virginia Tech,
require students purchase computers costing $2+ thousand.
4) Labs can have DTP stations where FM and Quark are installed, and other
Web stations, where DW and FrontPage are installed, just as easily as labs
continue to have programming tools installed for CS majors.
:?)
Cheers,
Sean
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marie C. Paretti [SMTP:mparetti -at- vt -dot- edu]
> At 11:25 AM 11/12/2001:
> >Michael Oboryshko said (among other things),
> ><||>Don't shy away from teaching software tools. I suspect a lot of
> ><||>schools don't teach tools because (a) they are too cheap to pay
> ><||>for the licenses or (b) they are making a LOT of money teaching
> ><||>the tools at night to corporate Continuing Ed students.
>
> At the risk of starting the holy war back up, the other reason some of us
> shy away from teaching tools is that 1) tools change and 2) tools don't
> make the writer. (No, wait: the 2 reasons are 1) tools change, 2) tools
> don't make the writer, and 3) tools cost $$$. . . "No one expects the
> Spanish Inquisition," anyone?)
<snip>
> Seriously, it is difficult to keep up (economically) with the latest and
> greatest. It's not really a matter of being "too cheap" - our computer lab
>
> has 25 computers, requiring more licenses than any tech pubs department
> I've ever been part of. And if we want it in both the Mac & PC labs,
> that's
> 50 copies. (Out of curiosity, how many of you work in companies that have
> 25+ copies of Frame, RoboHTML, and Dreamweaver?)
>
> Most of the "industry standard" tools don't come cheap, and even if we
> could afford enough copies for a 25-seat computer lab, that means that the
>
> students have to have access to the lab after hours to complete their work
>
> (few want -or can afford - to shell out $500 or more for a piece of
> software), which means staffing $$. And then there are upgrades. . . .
> Requiring software beyond what comes at a manageable educational discount
> is difficult on a number of different levels.
>
> Beyond the $$, if we rely too much on a particular tool, then we have
> students who aren't very good at adapting to different technologies and/or
>
> who don't understand the basic premises behind using the tools. The flip
> side, of course, are job ads saying "SuperFrameWordSingleSourceHTMLJavaXML
<snip>
> Don't misunderstand me: I think it's important to teach students key
> concepts about tools - things like templates, styles, importing graphics
> by
> reference vs. putting them in the document, file management, etc. - i.e.
> how they work. But even though I would rather slit my wrists than write
> another long manual in Word, I'd argue that if you can do it there - and
> understand what you've done - you can do it anywhere. And if students can
> learn web design from basic programs, then something like Dreamweaver -
> though I'd be cranky without it in my own work - is a luxury for us and
> for
> them.
________________________________________________
Sean Brierley
Lead Technical Writer
Jenzabar, Inc.
One Union Place
Hartford, CT 06103
www.jenzabar.com
tel: 860-728-6777 x211
fax: 860-247-0249
sean -dot- brierley -at- jenzabar -dot- net
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