We’ve been quieter than normal when it comes posting content to this blog. The reason for that has partly been down to us working on new training modules. We’re now at a point where we can share our current “roadmap” for training course in technical communication.
Earlier in the year, we were involved in a project to develop a Masters course in technical communication. Although that course was postponed, we’ve been continuing the development of some of the training modules, with the view of offering training modules on the management and planning of technical documentation projects.
The roadmap
Our plan is to offer a range of training courses:
- The fundamentals of technical writing
This is mainly for new technical communicators. This already exists as our online Technical Author/technical writing online training course
- Advanced technical writing techniques
This is for experienced technical communicators who want to know about the current trends and ideas. This also already exists as our classroom-based Advanced technical writing techniques course.
- Planning and managing documentation projects
This is the new course we have been developing. It is for documentation and project managers responsible for managing and planning online or paper-based documentation. The course covers project planning, Information Design, estimating, managing the actual project, metrics, establishing standards, governance and maintenance.
We are thinking about offering this as a live course delivered over the internet. We have run a number of courses this way for clients over the summer months, so it is possible to offer training in this way. The alternatives would be to offer it as a public classroom course, held in at our training centre in central London.
- DITA training
This is for people both new to DITA and already using DITA. This also already exists as our online DITA fundamentals and our classroom-based advanced DITA course. The online course could be included in the planning and managing documentation projects course.
- Single sourcing training
This course is for people who want to re-use, re-publish and re-purpose more content, and need to understand single sourcing and plan a single sourcing migration project. They need the basic skills in single sourcing and writing content for reuse. This also already exists as our online single sourcing and content reuse training course. This course could also be included in the planning and managing documentation projects course.
- Embedded Help writing strategies training course
This course helps UX developers and technical communicators better understand how to create and write in an embedded Help environment. This course could also be included in the planning and managing documentation projects course. See Embedded Help writing strategies training course.
- Content strategy training
This is for people planning and implementing a content strategy project. This can be for a website as well as for technical documentation. This exists as our online Introduction to Content Strategy course.
- Policies and procedures writing training
This is for organisations needing to train their staff in how to create clear and effective policies and procedures information. We have been running this course as an onsite classroom training course for a while. We plan to also make this course available as a public classroom course in the next few months. See Policies and procedures writing courses – beginner and advanced.
- Training in authoring tools
Because many of the vendors offer training in the authoring tool themselves, we’re unlikely to focus so much on this area.
Share your thoughts
Are we missing anything? Do let us know.
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