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Grant Robertson wondered: <<How many technical writers write
specifically educational material?>>
Depends on what you mean. If you define this broadly, all
documentation is educational. If you narrow the definition to include
tutorials, probably most of us write it at some point or other. If
you specifically mean "classroom materials", the number drops
precipitously. Most people who do this work are instructional
designers, not technical writers.
<<And, if not many, don't you think the material would be better if
tech writers had a hand in it?>>
Not necessarily. Instructional design is an entirely separate field,
and requires both training and practice. Techwhirlers are often good
candidates for such work because we're good at explaining things, but
there's much more to instructional design than simply explaining
things well. The same comment applies to editors: we're good at
revising things to meet audience needs, but we lack the formal
training to be good instructional designers "out of the box".
<<I see lots of videos where a professor just sat down and spewed out
whatever came off the top of his head. I'm thinking these would be
better if tech writers got into preparing scripts for professors to
use when creating these lecture videos.>>
Don't forget that most professors, at least at the university level,
are hired to do research and publish papers. Teaching is required,
but not a priority when it comes to tenure and promotion. As a
result, few profs have any background or training in education, and
few have any true desire to teach, at least until they've achieved
tenure. At the university level, the standards for teacher training
are nonexistant (last I checked... I may be out of date here), and
this often shows in the results. At lower academic levels, the
standards for teacher training are apallingly low and often foolish,
and the resources provided to help teachers teach are nearly as bad.
The fact that there are good teachers at all levels continues to
astound and please me. The system is set up to prevent this.
<<It seems like it could open up a whole new market for tech writers.>>
Yes, if you can find anyone with a budget to pay for the work. The
reason so many academic courses are of low quality is because they
aren't resourced properly.
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-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
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