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.
> I'm looking for pointers to a practical introduction to
> instructional design for computer-based training.
I received only one reply from this list, with a pointer to: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/idmodels.html
However, this page is mainly links to other pages about ID theory, rather
than the hands-on, practical information I was looking for.
>From my local STC chapter email list, I got the suggestions below. I'm
posting them here for the benefit of anyone searching the archives on this
topic in the future.
For not-too-much theory and just-enough practical information and a few
models, I'd recommend Saul Carliner's Designing E-Learning.
---
The most practical book I've found is William Horton's "Designing
Web-Based Training" (Wiley, 2000). He's _so_ real-world that his group
is giving a session called "PowerPoint: The eLearning Tool You Already
Have" at the eLearning Guild conference in October.
---
Robert Mager's theory of learning objectives is widely used. I think his
first book "Preparing Instructional Objectives" is a good place to start. It
comes as part of a "six-pack" of books but it contains the essential
elements.
I wouldn't recommend Mager's book for e-learning specifics. It's a very
general overview of what Mager thinks a good objective consists of. Not a
bad book, IMO, but not at all specific to e-learning.
Also - I think the web page (above) is actually better than the actual Mager
materials. I could jump into a 20-minute rant, but I won't. ;-)
---
(From Debby Kalk)
Please forgive some self promotion:
My textbook, Real World Instructional Design, has just been published by
Wadsworth and is intended for the beginning designer. My co-author is a
professor and I'm a practitioner and our goal was to provide novices with a
balance of theory and practice presented in a digestible format. It includes
many examples and, although it's not specifically about e-learning,
e-learning design requirements and applications run through the book.
Also, my co-author and I welcome feedback from students, instructors, and
practitioners. If you've read or used our book, we would love to hear from
you.
-------------------------
Janet Swisher
Senior Technical Writer
Enthought, Inc.
1-512-536-1057
ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl
WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
