Dr. Lu Kondor is a Now a Blog Contributor at CSUDH

The faculty development center at the California State University Dominguez Hills has a new blog for faculty and Lu is currently a contributor for the blog series entitled, “The Challenge of Facilitating Successful Online Learning."

Let's Get Style...

One of my favorite things to do in my spare time (and you might find this amusing) is skim through my technical communication library and randomly read through sections of books. Not what everyone would call exciting but there you have it.

One book I really like is Developing Quality Technical Information by IBM Press. Now feel I need to say I have no vested interest in this book other than to use it as part of my favorite research. As I thumbed through this book as I do many times for ideas I opened it to the style section. This section reminded me how important style is even though we take it for granted almost everyday as a reader using manuals, newsletters, and task-based documents. The use of conventions, standards, rules, grammar, tone, and presentation allows the reader to follow a document and get what they need from it quickly and efficiently.

I know the APA (American Psychological Association) guide better than the back of my own hand from just sheer use. For the uninitiated this is a book by a respected body (institution if you will) that promotes a guideline of style for publications and business. Other examples of similar guides are the Chicago Manual of Style, the American Medical Association Manual of Style, or MLA (Modern Language Association). There are many more available as well. But beyond that, organizations want consistency with their documentation so even if you follow say the APA guide, you still will most likely have specific templates for departments and the organization itself. These style guidelines bring a sense of usability and effectiveness. I feel we are creatures of habit (all humans) and so we want to know what to expect especially if we are stressed out trying to find out how to do a particular task or find information, not how do I find this. We’ve come to expect and not think about a table of contents, index etc.

This isn’t to say that just because we’ve always done something a specific way we can’t change it. But in my opinion we should consider change carefully and incrementally unless there is some outstanding exception (no need to email me, there are always exceptions to every recommendation). While usability is very important, always be careful with organizational identity and how that is affected by changes in style. Remember an organization’s publications such as manuals or a website delivers information that a user expects from a product or company in a certain way. Part of our technical communication skill is not to disappoint them. 

Specialization in Technical Writing - Enroll To Take Advanced Technical Writing Course

Thinking about improving your writing skills in the New Year? Don't feel like getting the certificate but want to increase your knowledge but not sure if you have time?  You are going to be interested in the online Advanced Technical Writing course at California State University Dominguez Hills at the College of Extended and International Education. The whole certificate is available online if you don't live in SoCal. So why not try the advanced course if you aren't sure about the whole certificate? In the advanced course we work on pieces to build or enhance your portfolio.

To find out more about the schedule, click here.

Thoughts of school dreams and syllabus nightmares

This was going around CSUDH email yesterday - I thought it was interesting. It stimulated debate and commentary, which I love. Now let me start with this - truly my syllabi are long too, otherwise I am flooded with confused student questions. I started teaching before the electronic age and students have so many more questions now than 25 years ago regarding everything from file formats they can hand their work in to electronic libraries all Universities now have. 

Many are returning students who remember older ways of learning and are confused by the integration of new technologies. I also like to mention that an aging school population knows what it wants from a class. I understand that sentiment, I received my doctorate a few years ago, having returned a number of years after my last masters degree.

Don't get me wrong, I like to answer questions and do as quickly as possible. But students may not be able to wait for an answer especially if they are working at the last minute late at night. Many could say students shouldn't wait that long, but the reality is today quite a few students can't help it. I also worked full time while I went back to school and from personal experience, so many students I have do just that with a need to balance their lives. Students need to work on classwork when it fits them and providing a tool that helps them work is just that, a tool. I do think that most syllabi are long today but it is a sign of the times that we are trying to define information (including required information by the University) by providing as much info. as possible, as quickly as possible.

I recommend with a syllabus including keywords in the document so when a student searches, they find what they want. If possible keep everything in sections together regarding similar information. I am contemplating on my next updated syllabus to include a click-able table of contents at the top. Worth it if you syllabus is over 5 pages.

The good? They are PDF files you can search instead of reading word for word. Like everything else today, most readers skim & scan. When you have questions as a student, why not have the info at your finger tips?

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2014/08/college_course_syllabi_they_re_too_long_and_they_re_a_symbol_of_the_decline.html

One of my favorite screen capture tools & there is a free version

As we all know video is very helpful in training & documentation, especially in applications, science etc. So I wanted to give a shout out on one of my favorite tools for recording videos, http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

Now to start it is free. Not bad but there are a few restrictions in the free version but for a fee you can get a lot more. I haven't needed the pay version yet except that a previous employer had it and I found it nice. But for my classes the free version works just fine. This is great when you really focus on screen instructions on you computer. I'll actually save these and intercut with other material as necessary.

For the free version there is a breakdown on the page listed above but for me there are a few key things for the free version:

• 15 mins recording - not a problem because I will break up my videos. If they are longer than that I lose students' focus
• Watermark on the bottom - probably the most annoying part but it isn't very distracting 
• It supports the following formats: MP4, AVI, FLV movie
• Easy to use - just try it

I like to edit on my desktop so I save there and editing using my normal tools (Adobe Suite is great for this and if you aren't using the cloud version of their software I suggest you do - it is awesome). Now if you like to go 

But here is the kicker - for so much more in the way of toolsets you can just pay $15/yr. Wow, now that's pretty cool. So I suggest you can try it to see if you like if first. I probably will get the pro version in the future. I use Firefox without any issues.

Very cool site - ptable.com

I normally don't go into site promotion but rather concept info. But I think this is a web page worth looking at in technical writing. It is a dynamic periodic table. I really appreciate the work that went into this page. The site, ptable, provides quite a bit of interactive viewing and information for the reader. Click on just about anything and you will be given details and new views. This site is why I like the web as a learning, training, and dissemination of information tool.

There's a video on using it too.
Ptable video

Special thanks to everyone who attended the LASTC Dinner

Thanks to everyone in LASTC who was able to come to my talk on Preventing Scope Creep on Documentation Projects. I enjoyed talking to everyone. Remember you can download a copy of my presentation in PDF format from my site. Click here to go to the page.