David E. Hailey

Online Education Horror Stories Worthy of Halloween: A Short List of Problems and Solutions in Online Instruction

Abstract This article examines many surprising problems that arise in the process of distance education using the Internet and describes ways in which instructors and administrators can solve these problems. The information in the article is based largely on the experience of educators at Utah State University who have been exploring distance education for the past six years by teaching a wide range of online courses via the Internet. As a result of this varied online teaching, we have encountered a broad spectrum of challenges to which we have tried to respond and from which we have tried to learn. The solutions described are generalizable to other programs using online delivery for instruction.

Relationship between Innovation and Professional Communication in the “Creative” Economy:

We evaluate 45 jobs professional communicators might occupy. Specifically, we examine the impact of creativity on careers that may become more or less easily outsourced domestically or offshore in the future. We are unable to find any particular relationship between creativity, per se, and job security. Instead, we find that people with knowledge of the processes required for innovation are more valued by industry than those recognized as creative. We suggest that to be prepared for the evolution of the global economy, technical communicators and their educators should understand “innovation” in its formal context and be able to apply that knowledge in their workplaces and classrooms.

A next generation of digital genres: expanding eocumentation into animation and virtual reality

The purpose of this paper is to discuss virtual reality and interactive animation as potential documentation tools for training and information distribution and to discuss applications available for developing these genres.

18 Years of teaching technical communication online: Tricks and traps, Dos and Don'ts, strengths and weaknesses

This paper shares lessons learned from seventeen years of teaching and administering an online masters program in technical communication. We conclude that online education in general-and asynchronous online education in particular-is comparable to face-to-face education but different in many respects. The differences represent both hazards for teachers to avoid (and to help students to avoid) and opportunities for learning. This paper suggests ways to make the best of these differences, discusses the effects of the flexible schedule afforded by asynchronous instruction, explains the need to anticipate different student expectations, offers advice on time management and participation for both teachers and students, and discusses the value of archived class discussions.

Evaluating the relevance of eBooks to corporate communication

Once one realizes that eBook formats (and particularly the EPUB3.0 format) are portable websites that can be carried on virtually any digital reading device, it should be self-evident that in the future eBooks may play an important role in corporate communications. This is especially true if one considers that eBooks solve important problems such as website passivity (websites are only useful when readers actually come to the site). Rather than wait for readers to come to them, corporations can send the websites to their readers (e.g., marketing, training updates, contact information, documentation). This may become especially true of the new IPUB3 format. Because e-reader devices have become so ubiquitous and because most new devices can read most formats, corporations can count on their audiences being able to access the content. This paper examines many of the positives and negatives that eBooks in general and the EPUB format in particular might bring to corporate communication. In the end, corporations will almost certainly adopt some eBook technologies. The questions become which ones, for what uses, and how? This paper addresses these questions.

To what extent should we re-examine our teaching?

If ask whether we should adjust our teaching practices in the face of growing demands from Industry (e.g., complex information systems), I suggest the answer is ʺyes.ʺ I am tasked with tracking emerging technologies in technical communication and with teaching the relevant ones. The problem I find is that my graduate students are missing the basics, so when I teach the emerging technologies, they are unable to write within them. What is particularly disconcerting is we should keep in mind that they are all working technical writers, and virtually 100% consistently fail simple tests of such basic skills as evaluating content quality in digital media, and even more basic skills such as audience analysis.

ReaderCentric writing for the prosumer marketplace: proposing a new, content-based information architecture model

As usability experts describe the appropriate models for writing in digital, they consistently express the need to write in a user-centric format. While I agree with the importance of efficient navigation in Web content, I suggest that user-centric writing only applies to part of the content we find in a website. Other styles of writing are almost always required. Two additional styles are persuasion-centric and quality-centric writing. These two styles are required by almost all marketing writing and especially marketing writing for the prosumer community. In this article I extend the ideas found in user centered design to include user-centric, persuasion-centric, and quality-centric writing (which combination I call ReaderCentric writing). I believe this impacts information architecture in a number of important ways, perhaps most notably in the way the various writing styles impact the mindset of the information architect. I will explain why these writing models are important and demonstrate what happens when the models are ignored or not understood, plus how they may be successfully applied to marketing documents on the Internet. Finally, I will speculate on how information architecture may be adjusted to meet the needs of the content, writer, and reader.