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Subject:Re: Technical Trainers and Technical Writers From:"Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- EXPERSOFT -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 11 Jan 1999 07:20:05 -0800
At 09:01 PM 1/8/99 -0800, Robert Heath wrote:
>I am being interviewed in the coming week for a position as a
>technical trainer...and thought that a job like this could help
>me break into the tech writing field... How similar is...
>instructional material to...software or hardware documentation...?
>
>2. If any of you are tech trainers, can you give advice on how to
>design instructional materials for a technical audience...
I started as a technical trainer back in 1983 and didn't write my
first user manual until 1988 or so. IMO, the experience you gain
as a trainer is invaluable to you as a technical writer. Nothing
sharpens your instruction-writing abilities faster than taking
what you wrote into the classroom and watching 12 to 15 people
struggle over your wording!
The best advice I can give you is to compile a reading list.
I found John Carroll's works on minimalism particularly helpful;
and you'll probably want to include a few works on cognitive
theory -- some of Donald Norman's stuff, would be good -- and
do some reasearch on learning styles (auditory/visual/tactile),
learning motivation (learning to know v learning to do), and
task analysis.
Be a sponge!
Best of luck to you!
-Sue Gallagher
sgallagher -at- expersoft -dot- com
