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Subject:Re: Training design From:"Elisa R. Sawyer" <elisawyer -at- gmail -dot- com> To:Laurie Marshall <lauriejmarshall -at- att -dot- net> Date:Thu, 9 Aug 2018 16:32:30 -0700
Hi NIna,
Just an FYI, one of my managers discovered technical writing when he was a
technical instructor and made a career transition into writing. Our team
was divers and he encouraged us to share expertise by giving
mini-trainings. It was a great idea, and I think all of us got benefits
both from providing training and receiving training. The trainings were
informal and fun, and he made certain that they never interfered with our
writing projects.
Designing and implementing formal training for certification would be
completely different from our relaxed mode of sharing expertise. You'd need
a formal curriculum and you'd need to track trainee progress with tests. A
part time person would not be enough.
I think that you need to know what the purpose of the training is. I can
imagine scenarios where this job would be a wonderful opportunity for a
writer to expand their skill set, as long as the goals and objectives for
the various roles are within reason.
- Elisa
On Thu, Aug 2, 2018 at 6:15 AM, Laurie Marshall <lauriejmarshall -at- att -dot- net>
wrote:
> Hi Nina,
> I am a tech writer at a small software company and I also do some of the
> training course development. My education is in TW, and I learned the
> Instructional Design piece on my own by attending courses, webinars,
> reading, etc. There's actually quite a bit of overlap in that many of the
> TW principles align nicely with ID. I have developed a variety of training
> presentations, videos, and supporting materials. One benefit of doing both
> is that I can ensure the consistent material and messaging is presented
> across all resources (e.g., the online help matches the course
> instructions).
> I'm happy to discuss with you directly if you want more information,
> Laurie Marshall
>
> From: Nina Rogers <janina -dot- rogers -at- gmail -dot- com>
> To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 1, 2018 9:01 AM
> Subject: Training design
>
> Hello!
>
> Our company is looking for someone who can both do tech writing (software
> documentation, Help Center management, forum management, etc.) and design
> training courses. To me, this sounds like two jobs in one--a tech
> writer/software documentation person and an instructional designer. So I'm
> just throwing this question out there because I don't know the answer: Is
> it pretty standard for tech writers to have training design experience (and
> to have both job responsibilities in a single job), or is instructional
> design typically considered a wholly separate specialty?
>
> I think the people writing the ad are thinking that tech writing would take
> up about 60% of the job while training design would take up 25% and other
> tasks would take up about 15%. I see training design as a much bigger
> thing, since it includes determining the best training methods, developing
> the materials (including video courses), developing assessment strategies,
> etc. (I have teaching/education experience outside of my tech-writing life,
> and I know from that experience that course design for multiple audiences
> can be complicated.)
>
> Would love to hear from anyone who does both tech writing and training
> course design for insight. Thanks!
>
> Nina
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--
Elisa Rood Sawyer
~~~~~^~~~~~
Technical and Creative Writer
"Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today." Mark Twain
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