MSU STC Meeting November 19
Online, 6:00 pm
Twin Cities
STC Meeting:
Happy Hour Social
December 8
11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Directions: TIES
ASTD Tech Knowledge
January 27-29, 2010
Las Vegas
Cybex International, Inc, in Owatonna, MN, is featured in National Geographic's video Factory Floor. Ellen Lewis is a technical writer for Cybex.
Dr. Lee Tesdell's blog about his Fulbright research scholarship titled "Mankato to Jerusalem and back."
9 February 2009
Tom Johnson
Quick Reference Guide Formats - Tips for Finding Attractive Layouts
31 December 2008
Medieval help desk (with English subtitiles)
Did you know; Shift Happens – Globalization
Did you know? Shift Happens – 2008 Surprise Ending
Our November STC meeting will feature two STC leaders: Ann Grove and Linda Oestriech.
Ann Grove, owner of Logical Writing Solutions, Inc., has more than 20 years of experience as a technical writer. She is currently president of the Susquehanna Valley Chapter in Central Pennsylvania and is an active member of the Philadelphia Chapter. Ann is certified in information mapping, which is a method used to efficiently analyze, organize, and present technical information.
Linda Oestreich manages a technical publications group at Hewlett Packard; she is a senior member and a past president (2007-08) of STC and lead an STC delegation to China, where one of their stops included a visit to Peking University to learn about their programs in technical communication.
The meeting will be Thursday, November 19, at 6:00 pm, online.
We have one more upcoming alternate plan paper (APP) presentation:
Ashley Flitter
"Build a Web Site, Save the World: How Environmental Conservation Organizations Use Web Presence to Support Purpose"
6:00 pm, December 3, 2009, online
Jane Xiong, Amy Beeman, and Wesley Ahles recently completed their presentations of their alternate plan papers.
On November 3, Jane Xiong presented her APP, "Writing Technical Documents for Hmong American Audiences." Jane's PowerPoint slides included a number of beautiful photos of Hmong story cloths that she discussed as part of her presentation.
On November 9, Amy Beeman presented her APP, "Focusing on Usability to Architect an Online Medical Laboratory Web Site Tutorial." Amy presented a case study of her work creating a demonstrative tutorial for the Mayo Medical Labs website. The purpose of her project was to reduce the number of calls for assistance to the call center. As part of her research, Amy reviewed best practices for online tutorials as well as the use of personas in website development.The success of her project has led to the development of other tutorials.
On November 12, Wesley Ahles presented his APP, "Testing Work Instructions." Wes also took a case study approach, presenting his iterative usability testing of work instructions within a production setting. Wes' immediate task was to produce work instructions for a well-trained workforce for whom English was a second language. His results supported the use of iterative usability testing to add value to documents by increasing successful task completion, thus reducing material and training costs. User feedback indicated the importance of visuals to the production staff's successful use of the work instructions.
in the June 2009 issue of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.
Dr. Wanda Worley, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and Dr. Lee Tesdell, Minnesota State Mankato, have collaborated on "Instructor Time and Effort in Online and Face-to-Face Teaching: Lessons Learned," published in the June 2009 issue of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.
The authors logged and categorized their time spent in teaching online versus face-to-face sections of Written Communication in Science & Industry (TCM 320) and Technical Communication (Eng 271). They found that they spent about 20% more time per student in the online sections.
Worley and Tesdell compare their results to those found in previous studies and suggest a number of topics for future research.
All coursework necessary for completing degrees or certificates in technical communication is now offered online. The MA and the graduate and undergraduate certificate programs can be completed within a two-year cycle of courses.
Non-resident students completing all of their coursework online can apply for Minnesota resident online (undergraduate/graduate) tuition—by completing the 100% online learner (undergraduate/graduate) form.
We are offering the following online courses Spring 2010.
We are offering the following online courses Summer 2010.
For more information about online courses, certificates, or degrees, contact Dr. Roland Nord.
