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.
Great idea! To help this along, you might "coach" the instructor,
instructee, and audience with hints (on paper) before you begin. To the
instructor, you give some vague guidelines. You tell the instructee to
be as literal as possible, even to the point of humor/ridicule. You tell
the audience to watch like hawks.
Another idea is to "reverse" role play. Have the instructor "teach"
something that he or she knows little about, but the "instructee" is an
expert at. At the risk of being non-PC, you could have a male engineer
with no kids "teach" a female engineer with children how to change a
diaper.
Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-216553 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-216553 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Lisa M.
Bronson
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 9:53 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Exercise to get participants involved
Since you're teaching how to write effective documentation and want
something relevant to that, here's a way of showing how important it is
to give complete, precise information.
Have two volunteers come to the front of the room. One is the
"instructor" and one is the "instructee". The instructor has to tell the
instructee how to make a peanut butter sandwich {or tie their shoes,
brush their teeth, or whatever you feel is appropriate}. The instructee
can only do exactly what they are told; they cannot use any personal
experience to complete the task. (We know this is not real-world; there
are always things you can expect your audience to know, but for this
example, they're to assume nothing.)
Make sure you situate the instructor and the instructee so they cannot
see each other!
The rest of the people in the room are in charge of making sure the
instructee only does what the instructor says, and letting the
instructor know if they haven't given enough information. For example,
if the instructor says, "Take two pieces of bread out of the bag," the
audience will tell the instructor that the instructee can't do that (the
bag isn't open). It can be really fun if you have someone who can be a
literalist about it, and when told to open the bag, but not *how* to
open the bag, they rip a hole in the plastic rather than removing the
twist-tie! Or, if told to put peanut butter on each piece of bread, they
coat the whole slice, crust and all, instead of one face of the bread.
:)
Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Doc-To-Help 2005 converts RoboHelp files with one click. Author with Word or any HTML editor. Visit our site to see a conversion demo movie and learn more. http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005
---
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 lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
