Re: Worthless Tech Comm Degrees

[Carol Anne Wall <mmpc0014 -at- pclink -dot- com>]

John Posada wrote:

>It always amazes me that the person will concentrate
>so heavily on writing down what is done step by step,
>vs watching, asking questions, and getting to KNOW how
>to do it.

<<snip>>

>How do people learn this way? What happens if they
>need to copy the material at home and their notes are
>at work? Doesn't anyone just learn things anymore?

When I was a trainer (in a previous life), it amazed me to see all the junk
people wrote down just to get their job done.

So I wrote a procedure manual.  Thus launching my technical writing career!

Of the three learning styles (visual, auditory, kinetic), visual is the
most common style, and is sometimes combined with the other styles.
Instead of using their vision to watch the screen and learn, they think
they have to write it down to learn it.  Otherwise, you look like an idiot
when you have to ask how to do it again.  No one wants to look like an idiot.

Why do people print out online help?  Because they look less like an idiot
when flipping through the papers on their desk looking for something than
when they can't find the same information online.

It's partly ego and partly the-devil-you-know.

Carol Anne

Carol Anne Wall, FLMI
Technical Writer, Minnesota Life Ins. Co. - Individual Business Technology
St. Paul, MN  USA
mmpc0014 -at- pclink -dot- com