From the Editor

By Crista Mohammed

Hello, Readers! Super happy to be delivering our Q2 2017 newsletter. As you know, this is post-Summit. As with all successful conferences, attendees leave re-charged and rearing to go. This positive energy radiates in most of what you will read in this issue, as our contributors are eager to share their summit lessons and experiences.

But, before we get there I must share our good news: We are continuing to reap the rewards of our student outreach competition. In this issue, we share two student essays earning the judges’ nod.

Whitney Lewis, reading for a Master’s in Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, explores the value of rapid prototyping in the instructional design process. Read Rapid Prototyping.

Jessica Lynn Campbell, Alex Gurtis and Gabriel Latorre discuss the value that Technical Communicators can bring to Instructional System Design. Read Technical Communicators’ Empowered with the User-centered Approach to ISD.

Viqui Dill, in her co-manager’s column, reflects on Summit 2017. She records the achievements of the IDL SIG over the past year and, waxing warm and grateful like only Viqui could, she thanks those who volunteer for the SIG. Read more.

Marcia Shannon uses her Secretary’s Column to share her Summit 2017 experience. She focusses on how the Summit is helping in her re-visioning of her career. Read More.

Jamye Sagan reviews eight summit sessions for us, touching on sessions ranging from how to complement written work with video to tips for professional success. Presenting cliff notes of topical sessions, Jamye gives us many great take aways: Useful to those who want to recall the session and particularly useful to those who could not be there. Read more.

Sylvia Miller presents a very careful account of a summit session on Responsive Design. Reviewing Dr. Lanier’s presentation, entitled ““How to Fix the Credibility Problem When Using Responsive Design”, Sylvia has extracted for us the characteristics of a credible website: Characteristics worth remembering as increasingly more content gets accessed from devices with vastly differing screen sizes. Read More.

Viqui Dill puts us in touch with what is happening. She reviews some sessions at the STC Philadelphia Metro Chapter Annual Regional Conference. Clearly, they had a blast while learning and sharing! Read more.

Finally, we salute and send out heartiest congratulations to: