TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: training guide vs. user guide From:Annamarie Pluhar <apluhar -at- mindspring -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 23 May 2002 14:10:54 -0400
And I know more about writing training than about user guides.
Some questions:
How much time is the "training" going to be?
It's "classroom type" but actually a distance learning application.
(telephone conferencing)
"Not too detailed" - what exactly does the person(s) expect the
learners will get out of the "training"?
Is the application user-friendly? How can they know "next-to-nothing"
about the application but the training is on "new features and
enhancements"?
Are the modules like each other, variations on a basic theme? Or do
they offer significantly different features?
What form are you to deliver (Word, FrameMaker, PowerPoint)?
These are all questions that come under the rubric of "training needs
analysis". Since you don't have much time and I think that the
circumstances indicate that "training" is being given short shrift
you'd probably be best off putting together the document that they
can use after the fact. So your user guide.
Still I think it would be good if you had answers to these questions.
My 2 cents...
Annamarie
--
Annamarie Pluhar
IDD Tech Solutions
Instructional design and development for technology.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by May 15. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com
Check out RoboDemo for tutorials! It makes creating full-motion software
demonstrations and other onscreen support materials easy and intuitive.
Need RoboHelp? Save $100 on RoboHelp Office in May with our mail-in rebate.
Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
